Deep in the Flower Fields
by Larmoyantt
Summary: There were two things Katsuki has been certain of ever since he was born: First, everybody, even betas, can scent and be scented. To his people, it's an important way of life. Second, omegas are supposed to be soft, sweet, and female. Of course, Izuku just has to come ruin all that for him, doesn't he? [Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics][Fantasy AU]
1. Chamomile - Peace

**A/N: Hey there! If you clicked on this story, lemme go ahead an apologize beforehand. This is the first story I've decided to publish and it is unbeta'd, so sorry for any mistakes! Hope you enjoy!**

Musutafu was an odd village, sporting an even odder collection of people, or so Katsuki thought.

Tucked away behind the mountain range that separates it from the Kingdom's capital, Musutafu had no reason to be the way that it was. And yet, much like it's inhabitants, Musutafu didn't need a reason, it just was. It didn't show a single sign of changing.

The land the village was seated on was unforgiving. Not even the most talented of farmers could coax crops to bloom near the settlement. The land around the village however, was a completely different story.

Vivid flowers encircled the quaint village in an ethereal crescent, their ever blossoming scent weaving in between cobblestone roads and through the characteristic grey clay of the houses the inhabitants called home, only decreasing in growth at the village's main entrance. Only the rare stray weed and the even rarer lily sprouted among the quiet streets where the smells of fresh bread and cooking meat mingled with the sounds of children playing and the exasperated sighs as Omegas doing their chores called out to them.

This was the village where he grew up. And it had never changed.

The day Katsuki was born to the village chief's family the springtime flowers seemed to herald his birth with an array of orange and scarlet blossoms. Being an only child to an Alpha/Beta pair influenced him greatly growing up. Looking back, he was pretty sure that, as a brat, he looked down on his mother for choosing to mate with a beta. She was every bit the part of the dominant alpha of the household while his father, calm and poised, did his best to maintain order between the destructive personalities of the alpha mother and son. But he was no omega.

At the young age of five, Katsuki presented as an Alpha. Rarely did children ever present their second nature this early, but the Bakugou family was always full of surprises. Growing up as an Alpha, Katsuki began to believe he had to surpass his mother, began to believe he had to be a better alpha than her. He craved power, recognition, praise. He wanted to be the strongest alpha in the world. After all, even as a child the villagers around him were always praising him, his lineage. They solidified his beliefs. He would hate for their expectations to be unfounded, to see the ugly faces of some no name extras upturned in disappointment.

But even at that young age, Katsuki knew he was missing something. The one thing that would put him on a different level than his mother, an Omega. He needed an Omega. An Omega would tame the Alpha inside him, making him faster, stronger, lethal even. He couldn't just settle for any Omega, though. With their whining and thin skin, they annoyed him. No, he needed the best omega. Not what the other villagers would consider to be obedient to a fault, full and all soft curves, but one that would push him forward and stand by their Alpha's side. Bakugou was going to find himself the best omega, he told himself. His mother may have been the strongest warrior in the village, but Katsuki set his sights on surpassing her in every way imaginable.

Katsuki doesn't remember when Izuku was born having only been a year old himself, but he did remember when the helpless little Midoriya presented as an Omega as early as the blond boy did. As children they saw each other, played games with each other, and ran around the village together almost every day. Partly in fact because they lived right in front of each other, but mostly because Izuku insisted on trailing behind the taller blonde boy. The younger boy would always run behind him, cries of 'Kacchan' bursting forth from wide smiles or teary eyes. Katsuki once told himself he hated the nickname.

He wasn't at all surprised when his mom broke the news that the shorter boy had presented as an omega. The pipsqueak had always been a bit of a crybaby. But as news that a male Omega had bloomed spread across their small village, the green haired boy had been received one of two ways: with delight and bright smiles at such a rare occurrence, or with disdain and misunderstanding at such a weird circumstance.

Maybe this was the reason why Izuku would cling helplessly to the young Alpha's arm while Katsuki's other 'friends' teased him, always declaring that they refused to "play with such a girly kid" or telling him to "go and play dress-up with his mommy."

Izuku Midoriya spent his early years clinging to Katsuki's side and he supposed it was Omegan instinct. They could've been considered good friends, so Katsuki supposed that as a child Izuku believed the strong Alpha would keep him safe. He wasn't entirely wrong. Katsuki wouldn't let anybody so much as send a dirty look at the green haired boy's way without snapping and silencing any ill will towards him.

Katsuki also possessed a certain interest in the omegan boy, always struggling to hide a blush when Izuku would present him with a small fistful of colorful flowers. They were never as vibrant as the young omega's emerald eyes. _Puppy love,_ Katsuki's father would tell his mother as they looked on with mirth in their eyes.

As much as Katsuki would shield a young Izuku from cruel bullies and harsh stares, he would also turn around and vent his frustrations at Izuku, calling him annoying, useless, and a burden. After some time had passed, Izuku began to see through Bakugou's facade and even grew to cherish the little nickname the Alpha had given him. 'Deku.' After all, Katsuki never did anything to hurt him, so Izuku assumed it was just his own way of being friendly. Katsuki grew to admire the omega's resilience. He never told the younger boy, of course.

And so they matured. Katsuki shot up in height and gained the signature Alphan traits of his kind, albeit more refined since the young man prided himself in training his body to the very limit. This was much to the annoyance of his mother, Mitsuki, who was often forced to go wandering through the woods only to find him punching a tree into sawdust and dragging him back home by his blond mane.

Izuku was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. While the Alphan boy had developed lean muscles and a sturdy physique, Izuku's hips began filling out, showing the telltale signs of his Omegan nature. Although his freckles never seemed to fade (they actually seemed to multiply, much to Katsuki's annoyance), his waist was much more feminine than he would have initially liked while his legs grew strong and thick as a result of chasing after his childhood friend and running through the flower fields near their village searching for flowers to pick for his mother.

Another development that impacted both the fiery-eyed Alpha and the shy Omega was the emergence of Izuku's scent. To Katsuki, Izuku's scent had finally developed from the sweet scent of honey and green tea leaves that his mother marked onto him into a soothing medley of fresh pine, like rain on parched earth, and amongst the medley emanating from the Omega was something that the Alpha could only describe as warmth.

_It drove Katsuki insane._

Katsuki could still remember the first time he had caught Izuku's scent. Katsuki had just turned fourteen, while Izuku was thirteen. Katsuki was walking alongside his mother on their way home from the open market deep inside town. It was a chilly evening during the harvest moon, the sky blossoming in shades of burnt orange and bright yellow. Most of the other villagers had already begun to move indoors as the mother and son pair approached their more than modest home. Amidst the quiet bustle of evening life, he overheard a conversation from across the street.

"Izuku, come inside! I don't want you to catch a cold!" a soft-spoken, worried voice called out from within the house directly in front of theirs. It was Izuku's mother, the nice lady with green hair and kind eyes who would sometimes join them for dinner. She appeared to be alone inside the house; Katsuki had always been told by his own mother to never ask her where Mr. Midoriya was.

"Coming!" A streak of emerald green came running from around the side of the house bundled up in a faded yellow scarf.

A slight breeze started to blow through.

Surrounded by the embrace of the chilly autumn wind, a fourteen year old Katsuki caught the scent of something that was entirely foreign to him. So fresh, so calming, there was no mistaking it's source. Katsuki's entire senses were flooded. He knew Izuku had presented as an Omega, but he had expected the green haired boy's scent to smell as rancid as the other village Omegas smelt to him. Instead, he found himself at the mercy of the omega as his refreshing scent washed over Katsuki. He had never smelt anyone like him before.

He stood there for quite some time until his mother smacked him upside the head a good couple of times to snap him out of his fascination. Bakugou continued to stare longingly after the green haired boy as his alpha, who had yet to rear its head in all fourteen years of his life, snarled its first words.

_**Claim.**_

_**Yours.**_

_**Claim.**_

_**He's yours.**_

Bakugou's dreams were tormented with images of soft, curly green hair and those damned freckles for days to come. 

* * *

As four winters passed and the moon cycled through its phases, so did Izuku. Once he reached the age that most other Omegan children presented their nature, he began to notice he was ushered along with the other young women of his kind, many of which were part of families who had just settled there as more and more nomadic travelers cropped up and decided to start a family among the flowers of the quaint village. While he continued to admire him, Izuku only ever caught fleeting glances of the stunning blonde alpha when chance happened to favor him. He always turned away before the other young man could catch his eyes, his face flush and the pit of his stomach burning with a pleasant warmth.

The Omega had to distance himself after all, it wouldn't do for him to be involving himself with an Alpha so early. Not yet, he told himself. Not until he was more sure of himself. And maybe not with _Kacchan_, who, as a young man, was standoffish at best and temperamental at worst.

Izuku knew that the other boy knew only tough love from his Alphan Mother, but Izuku wasn't sure if the soft heart he inherited from his own sweet mother could handle the spicy, intoxicating scent that emanated from Katsuki, regardless if his heart seemed to pick up it's pace around the blond alpha. Nevertheless, It never escaped him that Katsuki hadn't begun courting any other Omegas, and if should feel happy about that, that was nobody's business but his own.

Katsuki thoughts were similar to his own, as the blond distanced himself from the green haired omega whose warm scent would more often than not worm its way into Katsuki's head so much so that Bakugou began to suspect that the young omega was rubbing his scent on the alpha's belongings.

Time flowed through the two young men in a way that words did not.

As those four winters passed and the moon cycled through its phases, so did Katsuki. No longer as preoccupied to surpass his mother as he would have liked to admit, Katsuki allowed himself the luxury of making some real 'friends'. Albeit tiresome and below him, he met a handful of Betas that he deemed worthy of his presence to an extent, and allowed them to interact with him.

One of these companions was a farmer's boy. Eijiro Kirishima, a red haired beta. Kirishima's family was one of many who were once nomadic but had opted to settle down in their village, fearing the lifestyle of a traveler would cause the Alpha of the family to forget his trade and lose his green thumb. Mr. Kirishima was one of the only farmers to find success in their Village after all, despite his crop fields being quite a distance from the village proper.

Katsuki once snarkily commented that if Kirishima's father had a green thumb, then Kirishima himself must have rocks for hands, since everything the young red haired man would attempt to sow would fight valiantly only to die soon after or refuse to grow entirely. The red haired beta only laughed it off and shot back a obnoxiously sassy reply. Kirishima really did have thick skin, something Katsuki appreciated.

It had been a hot spring day when Katsuki had sought Kirishima's company to spar in Katsuki's private training area in the forest outside of town, outside of the flower fields. Although Kirishima wasn't an alpha, he could hold his own against the blonde's explosive approach to combat and refined swordplay, a feat not many could accomplish without coming out of the fray a little more than worse for wear. Because of this, Katsuki saw the farmer's boy as a worthy sparring partner, if anything more than a training dummy.

Kirishima was the first to suggest they head back, a smattering of stars in the evening sky letting them know that night was soon to be upon them. Reluctantly, Katsuki led the way back home, irritated that his practice had been cut short. As the young men emerged from the heavily wooded forest they were met with a vast ocean of flowers. Bakugou stared up at the sky. The day had turned into a sticky spring evening, the sun lazing its way down to embrace the horizon. As they waded through the flowers, Bakugou took note of the disgustingly overpowering sweetness that hung in the air.

Kirishima made a move, as if to start a conversation amidst the silence, but Bakugou quickly hushed him.

"Shut up, Shitty Hair" he rasped. The other boy's hair was, indeed, very shitty.

"Huh? Bakugou? 'didn't hear anything.", the other responded, not bothering to take the hint to lower his voice.

"I said, shut up! There's somebody-", The blonde alpha recoiled slightly as two bodies pushed through the ocean of flowers mere inches in front of where he and Kirishima stood.

Laughing and gasping for breath, the daughter of the village's medicine woman, Uraraka Ochaco, burst through the flower fields, showering the nearby area with petals while a round, green leaf stuck to her round, pale face. The other body was somewhat more graceful, more well versed in the art of swimming through the waist high flowers. A mop of green hair and a cluster of freckles (_those damned freckles_) greeted them before letting out an indignant squeak.

"K-Kacchan, w-what are you-?" Not giving the male omega a chance to finish, the round faced girl grabbed his arm, giggling childishly as she pulled him through the tall flowers back to the lights of the village, growing ever dim in the dusk.

"Huh...wonder what that was all about," the red haired beta chimed in after the pair of omegas were out of sight.

Bakugou didn't deem such a question worthy of a response, opting only to grunt and press on home, shoulders hunched forward, the sweaty cotton shirt on his back becoming increasingly irritating. In truth, Bakugou didn't fully trust his voice not to betray him. It was unmistakable. 'Only a thickheaded beta like Kirishima could miss it', he thought.

Wading through the flowers, Bakugou inhaled deeply. The air was still laden with the fetid sweet hormones of the medicine woman's daughter, but underneath that was the much more pleasant scent of pine and - and warmth. The warmth of brand new wool blankets, the warmth of the teas his mother would prepare for her monthly ruts, the warmth he had only ever associated with home. He trudged ahead of Kirishima, silent yet intoxicated. They made their way back to the village and as they parted ways Kirishima noticed the lack of a snarky comment passed his way as they went their separate ways.

This was the village where he grew up. And it was changing.

**A/N: Alrighty, I hope you enjoyed that! I don't have an update schedule set up right now, but I'll do my best to update consistently. Thanks again for reading, lemme know what you thought, toodles~!**


	2. Camellias - Longing

**A/N: Hey there, just a word of warning, there is slight violence in this chapter, so if that's a trigger for you just a heads up. Regardless, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Hmm, I still can't believe you were telling the truth..."

The brunette Omega had joined her green haired friend atop the short stone walls that bordered the village well. From their spot away from the other villagers, she let tension ease out of her body and felt the warm sunlight on her face. She and Izuku were finally taking a much needed break after they had spent the entire morning tending after the younger children. She turned her head, watching the older omegas and the odd beta toiling away with the daily laundry and let herself enjoy this moment of calm.

Uraraka was only teasing, that he was sure of, but he couldn't help but feel that familiar warmth blossom in the pit of his stomach whenever the Alpha in question was brought up.

The male Omega's brilliant green eyes moved from his feet to look excitedly at his friend. He wouldn't lie to himself, he had been looking for an excuse to bring up what had happened the night before all morning. He flashed her a brilliant smile.

"I told you they disappear into the forest Uraraka! Sometimes they don't come back for the entire day! I wonder what he found out there? Maybe they found something super interesting. Knowing Kacchan, he probably won't want to share. Ugh he's amazing. Maybe he's found a way to set the whole forest on fire. He'd probably do that just to train against any outlaws that may be hiding in there. You think if we told the village chief she'd go investigate it? I mean, Kacchan is her _son_. No, I think that would be too much to ask from auntie. But maybe-"

"_Izuku",_ the brown haired omega giggled, throwing her head back slightly and dangling her legs off the wall as mirth danced in her eyes. _"You're doing it again."_

Izuku blushed, his mumbling coming to a stop, scarred hands coming to hover over his mouth as a rosiness flushed through his cheeks.

Uraraka leaned in close to whisper in his ear. "You say they're gone for the _entire _day? What do you think they _really _do in the forest, Izuku~?"

For maybe the hundredth time that day, he blushed a deep crimson reminiscent of the smoldering eyes that haunted his dreams. His friend let out an exaggerated witch cackle from her spot atop the wall, caring very little about the stares the other Omega's threw her way.

"Uraraka, that's very inappropriate!" He couldn't help that blush that grew from his cheeks down to his neck. He felt as though he had been caught redhanded fantasizing about the sexual exploits of his childhood friend.

She laughed normally this time. "I guess Iida's starting to rub off a little on you, huh Deku?" Uraraka teased again.

At the mention of the youngest Iida, however, Izuku frowned, his face downcast, embarrassment and something akin to longing lingering behind evergreen eyes. The bespectacled young man had recently finished courting his best and only friend, no longer needing to walk on eggshells now that their relationship had finally bloomed. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

When was _he _going to get an alpha that would even give him the time of day? Would he ever find what his best friend now had?

Never one to ignore the other's mood changes, the brown haired Omega decided the best thing to do would be to change the subject. Uraraka leaned back in order to remove something from the small, pink satchel that lay by her side.

"Here," she said, almost inaudibly, her eyes glinting dubiously. "My mother's been working on the formula for this fake scent for some time after we told her about your little 'predicament' . I think she said she intended to sell this to some Betas who live in the capital and happen to have alpha mates, but since it's just a practice batch she wants you to try it out first." Uraraka held out her hand, a small pink vial glistening in her palm. "This one was made with some crushed up rose petals and those camellias you had brought her the other day. Just one dab of this perfume on your scent gland and even you are destined to attract a suitable alpha!" She flashed a knowing smile, satisfied with her explanation.

"I'm not trying to attract any alphas!" the male Omega demurred, swiping the pretty pink bottle from his best friend's hand and placing it in his own bag before anyone could witness the exchange. Uraraka and her mother had been some of the only people he had confided in to know of his abnormality besides his own mother. While everybody else in the world manifested their own unique scent, Izuku was scentless. He was defective.

Peering into his bag, the bottle had a pleasant iridescent sheen. Overpoweringly sweet, it's scent reminded him of the pastries his mother had once brought from the capital. "I'm just trying not to be anymore of a freak than people already make me out to be."

"Izuku Midoriya, how many times do I have to get it through your thick green skull," Uraraka slid down from the stone wall and started playfully and lightly batting at his head. "That you are no freak. Now come on, it's midday and the hunters should be back from their overnight hunt. Let's go see what they managed to bring in today." Uraraka jumped up and down excitedly, no doubt thinking of seeing her Alpha and stopping only to sling her bag across her shoulders.

Izuku sighed softly and joined her below, clasping his hands together as an apologetic look washed over his features. "I'd love to Uraraka, but I really want to finish that little project of mine I was telling you about." Said project was currently laying on his bedside table, and Izuku cursed himself inwardly for forgetting the small notebook. He was currently trying to capture the beauty of the tens of thousands of flowers in the fields outside of the village, but he couldn't do that from his bedroom.

Uraraka felt a bit crestfallen that her best friend was going to leave her for the flower fields outside of town yet again, but as they hugged and said their goodbyes in order to go off their separate ways, she couldn't help but sneak a glance back over her shoulder to witness her best friend discreetly dapple some of the fake scent on the area where his scent glands should've been. She smiled. He was going to be ok. She was sure of it.

* * *

Katsuki Bakugou was not okay. He was Katsuki fucking Bakugou. He was a warrior, a fighter, a beast to be reckoned with. He _did not_get lovesick. But after spending about four winters avoiding that green haired bastard, ignoring him, bursting out obscenities at him, trying to get the scent of that damned _Deku _away from him_, _all it took was one look, one whiff of a scent, for Katsuki to devolve into a mess.

It wasn't fair that the green haired Omega should have this much influence over him. They hadn't even had a real conversation since Deku had been grouped along with the other omegas. Fleeting glances and mumbled greetings shouldn't be enough to have this much of an effect on him. What was wrong with him?

_And yet_, Katsuki thought. _He still has the fucking nerve to call me by that stupid nickname! That piece of shit. I'll kill him!_ Clearly, emotions weren't his strong suit.

They had locked eyes among the flowers for maybe seconds, but that was all it took for his inner Alpha to be completely incapacitated by the short Omega. By that damned warm scent of his that he craved to be enveloped in. Katsuki was unable to get any sleep that night.

He had tossed and turned and cursed his inner Alpha for betraying him. When the sunlight streaming through his bedroom window had pried his eyes open he was beyond irritable. His damned hag of a mother had even thrown him out of the house before he could even get something to eat for breakfast, screaming about having to smell 'damned teenage alpha hormones in her house.'

He was angry, hungry, craving that warm scent that haunted his waking dreams, and clad only in his sleepwear having gone directly from his bedroom to find breakfast in the kitchen. _The old hag wouldn't even let me put on some proper clothes. I look homeless or some shit._ His mind fuming, he almost missed the familiar wall of scent that crashed into him. _Almost. _

Underneath a disgusting veil of decaying roses hid the rejuvenating scent of pine and _**warmth**_ that was the source of his suffering. Intermingling with that evergreen scent lingered something _more_. A scent that was so indescribable. Something that beckoned him, called out to him like an oasis on desert land. Frantic, Katsuki whipped his head around, looking across from the dirt path he was currently walking on. Izuku had been walking adjacent to him, albeit in the opposite direction. Looking at the other young man, Katsuki felt his eyes glaring.

A white cotton shirt hung loosely from his frame, the tassels and hem swaying in the slight breeze while faded brown leggings hugged his muscled legs. To be honest, Katsuki was appreciating the view from his spot across the street, the tan skin that peaked out from under Izuku's shirt as it fluttered about excited him. But Izuku's head was buried in his hands, lost in thought as he continued walking completely clueless to the alpha's suffering

An unprecedented rage and possessiveness surged through Katsuki. He was not one to be ignored. Not now, not ever. He stalked over to where the shorter man had stopped, much like a wolf cornering a rabbit would. Izuku's shoulders were hunched over, his pale hands plucking a small lilac colored hydrangea that had been valiantly trying to grow on the unforgiving earth. Izuku was surprisingly unaware of the Alpha's presence, too engrossed in his discovery to have any semblance of self preservation until the looming shadow of the taller man appeared from behind the Omega, casting into his heart a dark inherent fear and into his stomach a rosy menagerie of butterflies.

Izuku stumbled and very gracefully fell on his ass, swallowing any cry for help that might've betrayed his true fear. It was just Kacchan, after all. Kacchan wouldn't dare hurt him, right? The blond alpha stared at him through gritted teeth and hooded eyes.

Katsuki couldn't believe his nose. What the hell was this shitty bookworm doing walking around the village smelling of something, some_**one**_, so foreign, a scent that was obviously not his own. To Katsuki, Izuku might as well have been flaunting the fact that he'd been rolling around in the flower fields with someone else. Neither Katsuki nor Katsuki's inner Alpha took that easily.

Kacchan spoke first, his voice hoarse and hands balled into fists at his side. "Stupid Deku. Walking around the goddamn village like that. Fuck, what are you, some kind of fool? I know auntie Inko taught you better than to walk around smelling like-" Realization had set in. While there was no clear bruising along the Omega's taut neck, it was as clear as day to Katsuki. Izuku had been fucking _marked._

The Alpha's words trailed off, and Izuku heaved a sigh of relief. _So that's what this is about, huh?_ He thought. He offered up a silent thanks to Uraraka's mother for making him that perfume. Uraraka's mother accomplished in one bottle of fake scent what Izuku himself could not for the life of him achieve in all eighteen years of his existence. _I finally attracted an Alpha._

The fact that said Alpha was Katsuki, however, was not something the green haired Omega had planned for. Katsuki, with broad shoulders and large hands and even larger attitude. His piercing eyes always seemed to kill words in his opponents throats and, standing face to face with him, Izuku experienced that first hand.

For all that the alpha had seemingly tried to avoid the omega for the past couple of winters, leaving Izuku to yearn for his spicy scent and red eyes, Katsuki sure had impeccable timing when it counted.

Izuku picked himself off the ground, dusting himself off deliberately and slowly, making sure not to make any quick movements that could set off the alpha's angry temperament.

"I don't know that you're talking about Kacchan," Izuku started, trying to play the fool in an attempt to get out of this unscathed. He should've known that was impossible.

Katsuki did not look like himself. "What. The fuck. Did you call me?" Katsuki bit out as he threw out his right hand and slapped it on top of where Izuku thought his scent gland would. Katsuki squeezed, the pressure almost felt reassuring. Izuku felt torn between feeling terrified and excited.

The former won out. Katsuki's eyes darkened as he slowly brought the omega to dangle above him by the neck, cutting off enough of his air supply to fill the shorter boy with fear, but not enough to suffocate him completely. Surprisingly, the acrid sweetness of roses died down, much to Katsuki's relief. An evergreen scent still wafted outward from the green haired omega, coupled with distress hormones. Somewhere deep down, Katsuki began to feel guilty.

Izuku let out an indignant yelp. He felt like he couldn't breathe. His airway was closing slowly and he could already see the corners of his vision starting to blur. His legs flailed, some landing solid hits on the alpha. Of course, they had no effect. But Katsuki couldn't help but feel some sort of _excitement_ at having this helpless little omega fight back in his grasp. He wanted to show the omega who he _really_ belonged to. Katsuki's train of thought took a dark detour, and the appeal of the defiant omega was placed front and center in his mind.

His inner Alpha placed thoughts of strong, creamy thighs wrapped around him. The need to count every single freckle on the Omega's body fueled Katsuki on as he thrust the other man against the withered trunk of a forgotten tree, his own body following soon after. His inner Alpha snarled at the idea that his Omega had been with someone else. It told Katsuki that Izuku was his, the way the contour of their bodies fit together oh-so-perfectly was proof of that.

Angling his head up, fully intent on claiming the omega here and now, his concentration was broken amidst Izuku's flailing legs and watering eyes. Katsuki wondered why the omega wasn't crying out for help, or why none of the other villagers were stepping outside to help the young man. Surely someone must've seen them. Surely someone must've heard the omega gasping for air and fighting for his life in the dead quiet of the village.

_Why the hell is it so quiet? _Katsuki snapped out of his haze, anger being pushed to the backburner.

Katsuki let go of the omega's neck, letting his body slump at his feet, gasping for air and clutching at his neck, an ugly red mark marring his skin where Katsuki's hand had once been. The disgusting scent of roses resurged through the area as Katsuki looked around him, searching and scanning for any sign of life. It was still early in the afternoon, a biting sun hanging high in the sky proved that. The path they were on was near the center of town, near the well, omegas and betas alike should be passing through here completing their errands, children should be laughing and playing close by the fountains, the village's centerpiece.

And yet the village seemed devoid of life. As the green haired omega continued to gasp for air, trying to refill his lungs, Katsuki noticed the eyes. Staring at them from behind every closed door, every corner, every loosely shuttered window. Looks of disdain, of scorn, of pure disgust. All directed at the trembling body laying at his feet, silently sobbing as he tried to put himself back together again. Uneasiness trembled up Katsuki's spine.

Katsuki let out an audible _tsk_. He looked down at the smaller boy with guarded eyes. Hidden behind a thin veil of red anger, was shame. Izuku was supposed to be a miracle, a male omega. Shame. This was supposed to be his _Deku_. As a child, once full of joy and ready to trail after Katsuki on an adventure. Shame. The one his inner alpha had claimed since the emergence of that scent that brought forth memories of autumn warmth and cool winters. Shame. He wasn't about to let the green haired omega continue his pity party for much longer. He didn't like this horrible feeling growing in his chest.

"Get up," the alpha snarled. The omega made no move to follow the alpha's orders, his body still trembling and face pointing downward still soaked in submissive, terrified tears.

"**Get. Up.**" This time the alpha left no room for disobedience. He peeled Deku off the ground, hooking his hand under the omega's left arm to make it easier. The omega shakily got to his feet, fear and submission evident on his freckled features. Izuku looked up at his childhood friend-turned-assailant with uncertain forest green eyes shimmering with tears.

Katsuki's inner alpha fucking keened.

**YES.**

**GOOD. **

**SUBMISSIVE.**

**DON'T CRY.**

**MINE.**

Shame left a bitter taste in Katsuki's mouth. He began to grow antsy, he needed to move, to get away. He picked up the omega's bag. It had been tossed to the side and forgotten, the scent of decay emanating strongly from inside it. Katsuki paid it no mind, assuming Deku had been out collecting flowers for the round faced girl's mom. He tossed it at the omega, who caught it and quickly clutched it towards his chest in a last ditch effort to defend himself. Katsuki found that fear and uncertainty ruined the omega's natural beauty.

They stood like that, staring at each other in the sort of standoff they must've had once upon a time, back when they were children. Izuku could feel Kacchan's gaze on him through the green curls that had fallen in front of his eyes. Katsuki could still feel the daggers being thrown at them by the other villagers.

"Hurry up and go home," Katsuki turned on his heel and gave his back to the shocked omega. Izuku bristled at his sudden change. Heading towards the fountain, he took a couple of steps to distance himself from Deku and looked over his shoulder. "Fucking hell, everything about you is weak, you shitty nerd. Even that pathetic little scent that clings to you." Katsuki sighed. "Whatever. You should go home, your mother's probably wondering where her weakling of a son is."

Izuku was more than slightly traumatized. His omegan mind was reeling after the encounter with the alpha. His thoughts were racing through his skull as he watched the retreating form of his childhood friend. Shutting down and refusing to think about it for now, he wiped his tears and fixed his mussed up clothes and all but ran back to his house.

Izuku's walk home was lonely. There was no Alpha to guide him home. No strong arm holding him steady. There was only himself and the memory of red eyes scorching him from the inside out. His mind was racing but this wasn't the time or the place for him to break down. He needed to get home, he needed to feel safe again.

The green haired Omega arrived home without much trouble. After his, whatever that was, with Katsuki, all the other villagers emerged. Still, they avoided him, averted their was nothing new.

Stepping inside through the worn wooden front door, he shouted out a shaky greeting of 'I'm Home' to the seemingly empty yet warm house, not waiting to hear the response that came soon after from the dimly lit kitchen. _Mom must be working on dinner,_ he wondered.

He raced up the wooden stairs and burst into his bedroom, his safe haven. He tossed his shoulder bag to the side, arcing towards the bin he kept for trash in the corner of his bedroom, no longer wishing to inspect the bottle of fake scent his friend had given him earlier that afternoon any further and plopped onto his soft, familiar bed, surrounding himself in blankets despite the spring heat and surrendering himself to the racing questions in his head.

What had ticked Kacchan off? Why had Katsuki hurt him? He knew Katsuki was temperamental, but Katsuki had never outright caused him harm. Was he really pathetic? Was he such a freak that even Katsuki, who was his hero, someone he admired deeplysince they played together as children, someone he thought would understand, would make fun of him for not having his own scent? And why, even still, did he cling to the scent of the red eyed Alpha that lingered on his shirt. He couldn't bear to take it off. Not when the scent of cinnamon and campfires eased more than it tormented.

_Kacchan_ had hurt him. He allowed himself to cry himself into the waiting embrace of a fitful sleep.

**A/N: I really hope y'all don't hate me too much after this . I felt bad for Izuku after writing the first draft of this...**

**Once again, I love y'all, let me know what you think! Toodles~!**


	3. Queen Anne's Lace - Home

**A/N: It's me again, you're neighborhood fledgling author, with another update. This chapter is very Bakugou-Centric, but i promise you we'll get to the good bit soon!**

* * *

Mitsuki Bakugou was approximately five seconds away from tracking down her son and knocking some sense into that thick skull of his. Not only had he come home the night before _reeking_ of not one, but multiple omegan scents (one of which smelled suspiciously like pre-heat pheromones) after traipsing off into the woods with that farmer's son, he had woken up that morning surrounded with his own out of control agitated Alphan hormones. To her, that could only mean one thing.

From his spot watching her pacing a hole into the kitchen floor, her husband, the kind faced beta Masaru, approached her with a reassuring smile and a fresh cup of tea.

"Sweetheart, he's fine," he promised, placing a hand over hers, their golden wedding bands gleaming in the orange light of the kitchen.

"I know he'll be fine, Masaru, he's _my_ son after all." Mitsuki let out a deep sigh, her skin illuminated by candlelight. She leaned on the water basin, staring out the kitchen window. Slowly, the sun was making its descent. She could make out families retreating into their hovels. Her own son had yet to return since that morning, however.

Concern was eating her alive, fueling her anger. She was almost sure he hadn't eaten anything all day. Her mother's instincts had started nagging her to the point that she'd even stalked out the Kirishima's at their dwelling. After some carefully worded interrogation, the red headed Beta son of theirs had eventually told her that he'd seen neither heads nor tails of her own hot headed pup all morning.

Still, she couldn't keep the sense of uncertainty from gnawing a hole at the pit of her stomach. She took a sip from the teacup her husband had offered her. Almost instantly she relaxed, the warmth spreading through her body. This particular cup of tea wasn't as great as the ones she often made, but her Masaru's was a close second. She smiled. He _was_ her husband after all.

As Masaru was about to take a seat beside her at the kitchen table, the front door flew open and a tired looking Katsuki strolled in, mumbling a quick greeting before attempting to bolt up the stairs in order to avoid any conversation.

Mitsuki was having none of that.

Masaru watched in abject horror, uncertainty, and admiration as he watched his Alpha wife at work. Quick on her feet, she placed herself squarely in Katsuki's way at the foot of the wooden stairs before he even noticed what she was doing.

Mitsuki thrust a finger at her son's chest. "Your reaction time is slow, Katsuki," she flashed a smile. "Are you perhaps hungry?"

She motioned with her right hand towards the pot that lay on the woodfire stove in their kitchen, the other hand planted firmly on her hip. "I'm sure there's just enough of your father's curry for one more person~." Her voice was sing-songy, Masaru was nervous.

Her son only looked away, knowing his eyes would betray him. He hadn't eaten anything all day. After all, his damn mother had kicked him out before he could eat breakfast and he avoided his house and other people all day after he'd had that encounter with-

"I'm not hungry." His response came out curtly.

His stomach was, also, having none of that.

"Nonsense! I could hear your stomach growling at me from outside the door, now come!" Mitsuki left no room for the younger alpha to object.

Masaru looked on as his wife grabbed his son by the scruff of his collar like a dejected puppy and led him to the chair where she had been sitting previously, the young man flailing and cursing the entire time. Masaru chuckled inwardly. It was truly a treasure seeing this side of his son.

"Masaru, dear, would you please fix a bowl for our son here before his growling stomach alerts the neighbors, please?"

Obedient husband that he was, he set about readying a bowl of food for Katsuki.

"Here you are Katsuki, it should still be plenty warm." Katsuki's father offered him kindly, and slid the ceramic bowl and a pair of utensils towards his son. Katsuki only offered him a scowl and slowly began eating. Had the poor boy not been starving, he would've been ready to explode, Masaru mused.

Katsuki's head remained bowed.

Mitsuku was getting increasingly irritated by her pup. She took a seat opposite of him while her husband looked on worriedly from his spot cleaning the dishes. He could've sworn he saw his wife's facade fade for a short moment. He started drying with a newfound vigor.

"So,_ Katsuki dear_," she smiled, almost painfully. "Where. Were you. Today."

Katsuki shrugged in between inhalations of the bowl of food. "Was out training with that red headed farmer's boy. That's all, just lost track of time."

Mitsuki smiled as Masaru paled. He had unknowingly walked into his mother's trap. It was all downhill from here.

"You know, I thought you'd say that," she started and took a sip from her now cold cup of tea.

Masaru worried his lip. She never drank cold tea. _Dish water,_ she called it.

_Mitsuki must be having fun with this…_

"I thought you'd say that, Katsuki," she reiterated. "So imagine my surprise when I went over to old man Kirishima's house to look over his stock of spring vegetables and saw his son there helping him out. He looked like he'd been helping him since that morning."

Katsuki did not look up. "So what? He took a break after a while."

Mitsuki's brow furrowed but her smile deepened. Her eyes took on a look of false concern.

"Really? But when I asked him if he'd seen you, he told me he hadn't seen you since last night, Katsuki."

Katsuki's stopped with his food halfway to his mouth.

His mother continued.

"And your other friends, the pink haired girl, the boy with the knobby elbows, and the blonde boy with the black streak in his hair, the one who hasn't presented, yes you know the one, were out until the afternoon helping out with the hunt, unlike an unhelpful worthless somebody I know."

Mitsuki was relentless in her statements.

"I even stopped by Inko's place to see if she or her son had seen you, you know…"

Mitsuki took a long drag from her tea cup, draining it completely, Masaru winced.

"She said she hadn't even seen her _own_ son all day, either."

Suddenly, Katsuki did not like the direction this conversation was headed.

His mother, ruthless alpha that she was, had him cornered.

"_Don't worry_!I understand _completely_, your eighteen now Katsuki, dear. A grown man. It's normal for young men to stalk away from home for days at a time to-"

"No." Katsuki snapped in response, cutting his mother off, and stood up from his spot at the table, his bowl of food only half finished. "I am not having this conversation, not with you, not anytime soon."

From his spot in front of the water basin, Masaru saw a flash of amusement flit dangerously behind his wife's scarlet eyes. He glanced over at his son, and saw a storm brewing.

"It's okay Katsuki, I'm your mother, you can tell me anything." Mitsuki rose to her full height. All five feet, seven inches of her dominating presence. They stared each other down, two pairs of red eyes staring each other down. Eventually, the dam on the Bakugou matriarch's thoughts broke, and she let her thoughts escape her.

She shoved a finger into her son's chest.

"Especially when you come home late, smelling like an Omega in preheat! Should I be preparing myself to deal with your own pups? Gods dammit, even then, you still live with us! You haven't moved out yet even though you've lived past your eighteen winters. Why can't you just settle down with a nice omega like a normal -"

Masaru knew better. She was concerned for her son, but at the same time she was deeply saddened and annoyed that Katsuki wouldn't just tell her what was going on of his own volition.

"Fucking hell, I can!" Katsuki made an attempt to leave the kitchen but was again blocked by his alphan mother. He scowled deeply.

Out of the corner of his eye, Masaru saw Katsuki take a slow, shaky breath and slowly his rampage came out from within him. His son was almost unrecognizable, his face flushed, eyes distraught. Mitsuki was not done with her son yet, but her son was no longer intending on letting her speak.

"You tried to put me in a false sense of security with the promise of food, huh? So i could tell you everything about my day, right? Because maybe then I'd feel so much better? Is that it? Because you '_care' _" Katsuki's expression bordered on livid.

Neither Mitsuki nor Masaru knew where this sudden outburst had come from. While Masaru knew that his wife was only concerned, Katsuki hadn't been provoked, hadn't been treated in a way that was unlike their usual familial dynamics.

Katsuki continued on his rampage.

"You wanna know how my day was? Huh? Just great! It was all sunshine and roses! Is that what you want to fucking hear? Or maybe you wanna hear that I was out chasing omegas behind your back without a care in the world? You think I'm a damn father already? Is that it? You couldn't be farther from the truth!"

Masaru took the opportunity to step in and try to defuse the situation.

"Katsuki, there's no need for you to raise your voice at us, please calm down."

Masaru tried to take a step forward, but Katsuki instantly bristled. Masaru cursed himself inwardly. Had he been born an Omega instead of a Beta, he'd be able to calm Katsuki's anger easily.

Masaru held his hands up in an attempt to placate his rampaging son

"Listen, Katsuki, your mother and I were just worried about you, that's all. It's normal for us to feel this way about you. Your mother _is_ right. Sometimes you do disappear for days at a time. And when you come home smelling like _that, _well… We're your parents, it's our job to worry about you. You're our responsibility."

Mitsuki stood by her husband's side, steadfast but silent.

"We understand that you're upset Katsuki, but you should confide in me, _in us_, more often."

His mother was staring straight at him. Katsuki's scowl dropped and the anger that was in him seemed to uncharacteristically leak out of his body, leaving behind the tired face of a young man. Masaru was good at reading faces. His own son looked distraught, ashamed, lost.

"It's just-" Katsuki turned his back on his parents, hot and heavy tears threatening to burst forth from his eyes. They almost succeeded in breaking through when he felt a steady hand on his shoulder. His father could read him easily. He started trembling. He _hated_ himself for displaying emotions like some _brat_.

"How about you get some sleep? We can talk about this properly in the morning over breakfast. Would that be okay?" Katsuki turned around to see his father offering him a warm smile. Katsuki felt undeserving. He _hated_ this feeling.

His mother had a lot to say, but instead chose to bite her tongue. Words could wait until the morning. Her son needed rest, the heavy bags under his eyes coupled with his frazzled scent told her so.

"A-alright. I'll be headed up to my room then," Katsuki started slowly walking up the stairs to his own room, the curry he had scarfed down lay heavy like steel in his stomach. "Thanks for the damn dinner, I guess."

Masaru smiled fondly after the boy. As Katsuki receded into his bedroom, Masaru looked over to his wife and saw her just as, if not more, distraught as her son.

"I can't help but feel like I'm responsible for that, Masaru…" In truth, she felt like she had failed her son as an Alpha of the house, and as a mother for not being aware of what he was holding in.

Masaru quickly quieted that notion in a rare (and bold) display of affection. He was hardly one to initiate acts of affection, yet with his arm around her shoulders, his wife close to him, he knew it was the right move.

"It's not entirely your fault, Mitsuki. I should've been there to diffuse the situation before it escalated. How were we supposed to know how he would react to such a confrontation?"

"It was written all over his face Masaru!" Mitsuki removed herself from under his arm, exasperated. "I should've known not to push him the moment he came through that door after seeing his face, but I just wanted him to _tell me_ what was wrong."

Mitsuki's face dropped.

"Does he just not trust me?"

Masaru sighed. There it was. The reason for his wife's nervous attitude that had plagued her all day.

In an attempt to comfort her again, Masaru took her by the hand and led her up the stairs. The candles in the kitchen had burned themselves out, leaving them in relative darkness save for a sliver of moonlight shining on the kitchen table.

He whispered to her softly, gently. "Tell you what, Mitsuki. How about you try to get some sleep, and I'll go talk to Katsuki before he goes to bed. Y'know, make sure he doesn't go to bed angry. How does that sound?"

Mitsuki contemplated his suggestion on the way up the stairs, and as they arrived in front of their bedroom door she conceded. She gave her husband a goodnight kiss before retreating into their bedroom to change into her sleepwear. Masaru turned to the bedroom down the hall, and set his sights on getting his son to talk to him, man to man, for the first time in a long time.

* * *

_I guess me and shame are going to be life-long partners then, huh? Fuck me…_

Katsuki mused from his bed, freshly bathed with a clean pair of clothes adorning his Alpha physique. After all, he'd left the house that morning in his grimy sleepwear, and he felt that if he had to wear those disgusting rags any longer he'd explode.

As he stared up at the wooden rafters of his bedroom he let his mind wander.

It wandered to a time in the past when he was still a child and defended himself against a bunch of older boys who had just presented as Alphas and wanted to throw their weight around.

After his victory he had been as proud of himself as a four year old brat could be. Deku had congratulated him after that with one of his own bright smiles. The kind that were always reserved for Katsuki. Katsuki's face twisted into a sour smile.

_If my past self could see me now, I'd probably kick my own ass._

Katsuki let out a bittersweet laugh.

_Look at me, some alpha I am. _

_Can't even control myself in front of my own damn family._

And Deku-

Deku.

He'd tried to stop the intense feelings of anger and shame from spilling over all day. At first he had placed the blame entirely on the green haired omega. It was Deku's fault for going around smelling like another person without discretion anyways. Even if the disgustingly floral scent covering the familiar scent of pine was one he didn't recall ever smelling in the village.

He groaned and pulled his pillow over his head. He just couldn't wrap his head around it. On the bright side, he was glad his inner alpha hadn't reared its ugly head since the incident. It had done enough for him already.

As he lay face up and sprawled on his bed, feelings of shame trying to claw their way to the forefront of his mind, his bedroom opened with the whine of old wood and metal.

"Huh, guess I'll have to grease this again sometime. Maybe it'd be too much to ask of you to try not to slam your door all the time?" His father chuckled lowly as he stood on the threshold of his bedroom door, scratching the back of his head and giving off an awkward air, the older Beta's scent coming off as mildly comforting.

It was a silent question. His father was asking for his permission to enter his space.

Katsuki withdrew into himself, but allowed his father to step inside, closing the door as quietly as he could behind him with another wooden whine.

What his father did next surprised him. Masaru slowly made his way to his son's bedside, treading softly on fluffy, brown socks. He slowly knelt down and crossed his arms over his son's bed. He lay his head gently on his arms, his face tilted towards his son's scowling face.

Immediately a knot of nostalgia twisted in the center of Katsuki's chest. His father would always kneel by his bedside to read him a bedtime story or to listen to the young alpha complain about his day.

His father hadn't done this in ages. Those unwanted feelings prickled at the back of his throat.

"Katsuki, I think it's about time we had our own little talk. You know, father to son. How about it?"

"I don't know if there's much else to say. I'm not really sure I can manage anymore tonight."

Katsuki felt so weak. He was starting to get annoyed with himself.

"Katsuki, you're my son. I've watched you grow up surrounded by people telling you how amazing and strong you were. I stood by and let them inflate your ego. For that I apologize."

Katsuki didn't have a clue where this was coming from. He assumed this was something that his father had wanted to get off his chest for some time now. Although embarrassment prickled at the back of his throat, he maintained a stoic expression and listened to his father.

"I'm taking responsibility for the way you act," Masaru started again.

Katsuki cut him off.

"No. That's not your fault. Why are you apologizing to me now, old man? Thought you said we'd talk in the morning."

Katsuki was on the defensive again. Masaru withdrew slightly.

"It's just that we, your Mother and I that is, worry about you, you know?"

"Eh? And why's that?" Katsuki was beginning to get irritated. Masaru had to do something quick, or what he'd set out to do would end up doing more harm than good.

"Before I tell you, you have to promise me you'll never speak of this in front of your mother."

"Depends on what it is you have to tell me..."

"No, Katsuki. Promise me. Promise me that whatever we say tonight will stay between us."

Katsuki rolled his eyes in desperation. He didn't know why his father was acting so odd, but he'd gotten his attention. This was fine. He'd bite. Whatever it was, it seemed really important to the older beta.

"Fine. Just between us, right? I can do that."

Masaru breathed a sigh of relief, steeling himself for what was about to come.

"Katsuki, your mother and I care for you very much-"

"Yeah, yeah, I figured out that much."

"Let me finish," The brown haired man whispered. "Your mother and I care for you very, very much, that's why we don't want what happened to us to happen to you, too."

Now Katsuki was more than intrigued. He sat up in his bed. The moon casting eerie shadows on his father's tired face.

"Times were different back when your mother and I were younger. She was much more reckless than she is now and, dare I say, so was I. Your mother had brilliant dreams, dreams of becoming a soldier in the imperial army. Of climbing the ranks and becoming a general, a commander, anything that would give her status, power, recognition."

Masaru let in a shaky breath.

"I messed up. It's all my fault. She had the opportunity she'd been yearning for right in her grasp, but because of my recklessness- because of me she had to give all her dreams up so that she and I could move to this calm little village and raise our first child."

Katsuki just stared at his father. He tried to say something, anything, that would help him play this off as some sort of cruel joke, but no words came to him.

"I pled with her, '_Please Mitsuki, become a soldier, follow your dreams, I'll take care of our son'_, but she wouldn't listen. She'd tell me all her new dreams had blonde hair, angry eyes, and tiny fingers swaddled up against her chest."

Masaru looked away for a while, silent.

"Old man-" Katsuki tried, not sure how to proceed.

"I know the dreams you hold dear to you, Katsuki. I know you're playing with the idea of someday becoming a royal knight. You're my son, after all. I don't want you to just latch on to the first omega you find and end up having to give up what you've dedicated yourself to for another person's dream!"

The brown haired beta looked defeated as he knelt by his son's bedside. His son could only offer him a bewildered stare. Masaru would have to apologize profusely to his wife later. They never intended for Katsuki to learn what his mother had given up for him.

But even from the distance between the father and son, he could tell that his son was concealing something from them. His wife had confirmed it when she told him that their son reeked of omega pheromones, and even freshly bathed, they clung to him.

But there was something else Masaru found odd though.

"By the way, Katsuki," The older man tried, a light hearted tone replacing his previous serious one. "Can you tell me why you smell like artificial pheromones?"

Katsuki thought he'd misunderstood his father.

"Oi, What did you say?"

"Artificial pheromones. When your mother and I lived in the capital city, Yuei, there used to be vendors who would sell fake 'omega pheromones' to betas who were in relationships with alphas in order to, you know, _spice up _the relationship."

Katsuki's face reddened. He couldn't believe his father was talking to him about this.

"Although, sometimes," his father continued. "Sometimes the herbalist who would make them would unwittingly either make them too strong, too weak, or use a mixture of ingredients that would yield the opposite effect and make betas smell like alphas."

His father covered his face with one hand, seemingly embarrassed.

"Being a beta myself with an alpha pair, I can't say I haven't had my fair share of experimenting with artificial pheromones. I don't think I've touched the stuff since I was sold a bad batch, though."

Katsuki felt like this was important information. Like he had just been given a huge piece of a puzzle he hadn't even realized needed solving.

"Hey, old man, you just asked me why I smelled like an artificial scent didn't you?"

Masaru reddened, realizing what he had just confided in with his son.

"Yeah I did, when you walked in the door this evening that's the first thing I got from you. And, although it's faded now, I could tell it was probably from a bad batch, too. Even my beta nose could smell it, that's what tipped me off. You smelt like you'd gotten in a fight with another alpha over an omega, but it smelled...manufactured. I'm sure your mother didn't notice that it smelled fake. She probably _believed_ you'd actually gotten into a fight with an alpha over some omega, which upset her more."

Katsuki's mind was jumping hurdles, desperately clutching at straws and trying to connect the dots, but something didn't sit right with him either.

"But why would Deku, of all people, need an artificial scent? He's got his own!"

Katsuki's volume had gone considerably above the limit of a normal conversation, and Masaru had to quickly shush the young man lest they wake the alpha of the household.

At the mention of a name, Masaru's eyes shone and his eyebrows habitually raised themselves.

"...Deku?"

"Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya, auntie Inko's kid. Why would he need an artificial scent? It just doesn't make sense to me after you're telling me that beta's use them to produce their own scent."

A flash of something suspicious crossed Masaru's eyes, something that didn't go unnoticed by the young alpha.

"Katsuki, my boy, Inko's son, the omega boy, doesn't have a scent of his own."

If Katsuki thought that his father was playing with his emotions before, boy was he wrong.

"How can he not have a scent, I've been tormented by that omega ever since his scent emerged, you can't tell me he doesn't have a scent!"

Katsuki's volume was, again, way too loud for a confidential father-son talk.

"Katsuki, besides the other rumors that family has to put up with, Izuku Midoriya being born without a scent is common knowledge. Don't tell me you weren't aware of this? You used to spend so much time together with him when you two were little, and he presented shortly after you did!"

At this point, Masaru wasn't concerned about volume. Katsuki appeared feral.

"As if I would pay attention to what a bunch of fucking extras would say about him! They probably don't even know anything about him!"

_Oh no_, Katsuki thought inwardly._ That damned alpha is stirring inside me_.

Still, the Katsuki that was speaking outwardly continued his rambling.

"They don't know anything about him! His scent is so much more tolerable than any of the other omegas anyways. The other Omegas smell like overly sweet decaying flowers! My Deku smells like fresh pine, and evergreen trees, and rain, and-"

**MY DEKU**

The smug look on his father's face betrayed him. He'd caught Katsuki's little Freudian slip.

"Alrighty, Katsuki, I understand now. I'd better let you get some rest."

Masaru rose from his kneeling position, aching pain shooting through his knees. He wasn't getting any younger.

_Anything to get Katsuki to talk to me, though,_ He thought.

"Hold on! We're not finished here, old man!"

Chuckling softly, Masaru made to tuck his son into bed like he used to so long ago, and was met with arm's swatting his away. Regardless, he whistled softly and ignored his son.

"Yeah, I guess we're not, Katsuki. But remember, we agreed to talk about this in the morning over breakfast."

Katsuki looked as if he wanted to argue but was stopped short when the clouds outside parted and moonlight entered his bedroom a certain way and illuminated his father's face.

_For all that he prides himself in being able to read people, _

Katsuki thought,

_He's pretty easy to read himself._

Washed out in moonlight, his father's face was splashed with a mixture of expressions Katsuki could only ever recall being placed there in his wildest dreams.

Pride was there. Happiness, too. But also, uncertainty. Unsure if his son knew what he was talking about. Katsuki supposed it was for the best not to push him anymore.

The wooden door to his room protested loudly about being opened so late at night. As Masaru crossed the threshold out of his son's room he looked back and offered an empathetic smile to the moonlit room.

"Goodnight, son," Masaru managed to say, before closing the door behind him with a final wooden squeal.

Katsuki thought for a moment trying to get his bearings together and grasping at loose ends, trying to sew together all the information he had just been given. Eventually he decided on a course of action.

He looked up to his empty room and although the time had passed, he couldn't help but mutter his own farewell to the stone walls and wooden support beams.

"Goodnight, Dad."

There was no way in hell was Katsuki sleeping tonight.

* * *

**A/N: Ugh, I guess in my stories Katsuki never gets any sleep, haha! Thanks for reading! I'll see y'all later, toodles~!**


	4. Red Anemone - Passion

**A/N: I'm very sorry for not uploading in a very long time. I really wanted to get this chapter as acceptable as I could get it. I'm still entirely happy with it, but fuck it it's 3am and I'm tired. Hope y'all enjoy!**

There was no way in hell was Katsuki going to sleep tonight. He lay utterly awake in bed, his feet splayed and arm brought up to rest against his forehead, and surrendered himself to his racing mind.

Sure, finally being fed after going hungry for the whole day did wonders to help him forget what had happened earlier that day, but now that he lay in bed, his mind unable to stay in one place, he couldn't stop shame from wrapping its black hand around his heart.

Katsuki needed to be the best alpha. He needed to become unrivaled in skill and strength. Not just because his own alphan lineage was strong, not just because he was thrust into a world where everyone around him expected nothing less than the absolute best from him, but because if he didn't, if he failed, Katsuki doubted he'd be able to face the disappointed stares.

He was already wrapped up in this endless spiral of expectations. He was too far gone and too prideful to back down from this ambition that at first hadn't entirely been his own.

'_But how the hell am I supposed to act like a fucking alpha if I can't even control myself around him, a single omega?' _Katsuki pleaded to the stars outside his open window, cream colored curtains rustling gently in the warm spring air of the night. The scent of midnight flowers was carried on the breeze. _Real flowers._

Izuku. _Deku_. Without his permission, Katsuki's inner alpha had all but claimed the boy as his own. The alpha inside of Katsuki would croon and exude a content scent whenever the omega was near. Not that he ever was seen near the blond alpha.

They had been almost inseparable as children, much to Katsuki's annoyance. As young teens they had drifted apart when their intrinsic genders began shaping them differently, only stealing fleeting glances of each other behind blushing cheeks. Now, as young men, Katsuki had ruined any chance of ever tying up loose ends with the male omega.

His mother had once told him that male omegas were a blessing, a sign from the skies above that harvests were to be fruitful, rains to come, and flowers to flourish. He was perfect for Katsuki's ambition to be the top alpha. He would have an omega that no other could compete with, his own little good luck charm.

To say that Katsuki was only after Izuku because of the shorter man's second gender was, to be honest, a complete lie. Perhaps it was a defense mechanism, maybe it was a product of the family he was raised by, nevertheless Katsuki was hopeless when it came to understanding the feelings that raged on inwardly.

In Katsuki's eyes, every other omega in their village was simply too much. Their scents hung heavy in the air when he would approach them as if they were trying to seduce him, but try as they might their scents appalled the blond alpha. He smelled only rotten flowers and considered them as such. Not to mention that the other Omegas always seemed annoyingly dependant. '_They're all the same, needy'_ he would often think to himself.

Izuku, like always, was an exception to Katsuki's rules. Where the other omegas smelled putrid, his green haired omega was a strong and independent breath of fresh air. He longed for the day to be able to breathe freely.

Lost in thought, Katsuki almost missed the dark shadows dancing outside in the full moon light.

As a child, he'd insisted to his father that he wanted his bed to rest right next to his window. He lied to himself that it was because the midnight breezes soothed him, not because he felt like he needed to keep an eye on the modest dwelling across the street that sheltered a mop of green hair.

Rising up on his elbows, he had to get a better view. It almost looked as if someone was trying to break in from the second story window. A window he knew all too well as being the only window in the male omega's room.

Re-energized, he flung himself from bed and crept silently to his window sill, the darkness obscuring him. From this vantage point he realized that someone wasn't breaking _in_, someone was breaking _out_. Sure enough, messy green curls shone in the full moon as they scaled the trellis, using the vines that grew haphazardly along the side of the house as grips.

Katsuki ground his teeth together. _'What the hell is that damn nerd thinking,'_ he fumed under his breath. _'Leaving his house this late at night, just what the hell is getting into?' _Katsuki blamed his inner alpha for the surge of overprotectiveness that passed through him.

Beads of sweat gathered on Katsuki's face. He wasn't worried about the omega, he told himself. _'Deku can do whatever the hell he wants to. He's not a little kid anymore_.'

As if on cue, his meddlesome instincts resurfaced.

**BAD ALPHA.**

**DON'T IGNORE THIS.  
HE COULD GET HURT.**

**YOUR FAULT.  
GO.**

He shook his head, trying to cleanse himself of those thoughts to no avail. Katsuki hated the feeling of longing that stuck to him as he watched the retreating form of his former childhood friend. He watched as he disappeared behind a row of houses, messy green curls obstructed from his view.

Katsuki knew where he was going. He wasn't going to let Deku just waltz over to the edge of town by the forest. The forest housed criminals, vandals, the excommunicated. Katsuki knew from experience that those vagrants were most active in the cover of night. The idea of them finding Deku, of catching his scent, of approaching him and, and-

Katsuki launched himself from the windowsill and began pacing around his room. He needed to get out there, to stop that idiot and haul his ass back to bed like the model alpha citizen that he was. That's all, there was no need for words, just actions. Katsuki could work with that. But what Katsuki was not going to do was climb out of his bedroom window. Surely he had more dignity than sneaking out of his own home.

He paused in front of his bedroom door. He couldn't just walk of house, though. He would have to pass by his parent's own bedroom door and, as agitated as he was, he was sure his mother, seasoned warrior that she was, would pick up on his scent. He was not ready to face her.

Almost conveniently, he remembered something that the shitty haired farmer's boy had given him earlier that year.

_Kirishima had been one of the only people who had presented a gift to Katsuki on his 18th winter. Not because people were spiteful or forgetful, rather, the blond haired alpha simply refused to tell people the date of his birth, thinking the occasion 'silly' and a 'waste of time'. _

_At the time, he was taken aback by Kirishima's conviviality and grew angry that the other boy had to have gone behind his back to find out about his birth moon, Katsuki reluctantly accepted his gift without any fanfare under the predatory gaze of his mother._

_Under an unspectacular wrapping of soft animal hide was full vial of what at first the blond boy had assumed was perfume. Embarrassed, he had almost blown off the other boys head, red hair and all. It took some carefully calculated wording on Kirishima's part to get the hot headed alpha to calm down._

_Kirishima had pulled Katsuki to the side, an arm hardened by grueling hard work around his shoulders to ensure he wouldn't escape and spoke in hushed tones._

_`I heard you were having trouble with the omegas, so I decided I'd get you this!'_

'_And just what the hell is this, shitty hair?'_

'_It's a scent blocker! When my family was still nomadic, my dad would wear this so his scent wouldn't alert thieves. Just a little bit of this and you'll finally be able to get enough control of that scent to approach them!'_

_Katsuki really wanted to tear off his friends head, embarrassed or not._

Regardless if Katsuki thought the concoction was worthless, it sure had appeal. If he covered his scent gland in it, he'd be able to exit from his front door, bring Deku back, kick his ass maybe, and return home before morning, all without alerting anyone.

With his scent thoroughly covered, Katsuki prowled out of his dwelling, a mad glint in his eyes accompanying a deep scowl.

* * *

Izuku needed to feel safe again.

In his dark bedroom, Izuku's eyes fluttered open, dried tears clinging to his eyelids. Consciousness rushed back to him, and he felt a dull pain spread throughout his body along with it. His entire frame ached a wretched flame, but slowly, the omega began tentatively moving his limbs, subconsciously checking to see if anything had broken.

Every move he made only caused the dim spark within him to grow brighter, and he cried out softly as he brushed his hand across his neck. His room was dark. The only light came from a small, plain candle his mother had left on a dish by his bedside table. However, even in the flickering light, he could still make out dark splotches extending down from his neck.

It almost seemed as if the heat coursing through his body was emanating from the dark bruise.

He swung his body slowly over to the edge of his mattress, wincing as his legs protested. Izuku shot a glance towards the corner of his room, the spilled contents of his bag and the subtle rosy scent reminding him that his earlier encounter with the alpha had not been a fantasy.

An overwhelming air of dejection hung heavy over him. Sleep hadn't given him respite, even in his dreams he was tormented by the blond haired man.

The Katsuki in his dreams was all confident smiles and broad shoulders, while the Katsuki in his waking hours was only steady glares and possessive arms.

He didn't know which he preferred.

Izuku's irritatingly grimy skin demanded his attention, and he could feel his body growing warmer with every passing heartbeat. Steadying himself, he ambled towards his bathroom. Heat pulsing with every step, he stumbled through the door and was met with more darkness. Instinctively, his hand reached out to the shelf right next to the door and took hold of a match. He lit the small candles that crowded the small mirror in the center of the room with the utmost care.

From an open window in the bathroom, the cool night air wrapped around and kissed Izuku's inflamed body. He let out a small sigh, instantly feeling relief. He had fallen asleep in the clothes from the day before, dirt and grime covering his skin. He felt uneasy being so unclean.

He undressed and went about wiping the dirt off his body with a cloth his mother always left him in the water basin. He also took care of the remaining fake scent he had on his non-existent scent glands, wiping it off vigorously with an embarrassed expression. When the job was done, Izuku set the cloth down and got a good look at himself in the mirror.

He looked a wrecked mess. His wild, curly hair was sticking out in different directions, his tired eyes had their pupils blown wide, and, of course, that soft purple handprint that hugged his upper clavicle gave him a lewd appearance.

Trying as hard as he could to restrain his unruly mop of hair, he stepped out of the bathroom and back into his bedroom. The air that hung heavy in his room was incredibly stuffy compared to the cool breeze that wafted in through the bathroom window, so Izuku made his way over to his bedroom window and pried the shutters open. Leaning against the windowsill and letting the overgrown vines on the trellis tickle his fingertips and the night air wash over him, he felt relief.

It seemed to him that the warmth that was passing through his body was finally beginning to pass, he already felt much better. Looking up at the sky, he noticed that the moon was past it's zenith, meaning it was probably in the early hours of the morning now.

'_Well,' _He thought to himself. '_I might as well get an early start on the day.'_

Quickly, Izuku threw on a clean pair of clothes and gathered his belongings. This time he didn't forget the small notebook, placing it in his bag with his charcoals.

He also noticed the vial of fake scent on the floor and decided to hide it in the very back of his dresser. While he was grateful to Uraraka and her mother for the gift, the disgust he felt from his encounter earlier was still prevalent in the back of his mind. Scentless freak or not, he couldn't see himself using the vial of fake scent for a while.

Not while Katsuki still prowled these streets.

Izuku decided it would be best not to wake his mother. Her job as a seamstress would often have her working long hours, and, as soon as the sun rose from the horizon, today would prove no different. Deciding his mother deserved her rest, Izuku slowly crawled backwards out of his window, searching for footing on the overgrown vines.

Touching down on solid ground, Izuku dusted himself off and set out for the flower fields outside of town, unaware of the glowing red eyes watching him from across the street as he faded out of view in between houses, completely oblivious to the trail of pheromones he trailed behind him that only a certain red eyed Alpha would be able to track down.

* * *

Time was such a strange, fickle thing, this Izuku knew to be true. For all the time he spent in the flower fields outside the village of Musutafu, for all the seconds, minutes, and hours, time never seemed to flow in a straight line. There were times where he could've sworn he'd been lulled to sleep in the waving ocean of flowers only to awaken to find the sun in the same position. Nevertheless, his body knew time had passed.

Tonight was no different. As he lay on his back, an arm behind his head and his other hand twirling a crisp white anemone, he gazed up at the full moon. It's radiance framed by the tall flowers was imposing, yet he felt at ease amongst the blossoms. The anemone in his hand was closed, no doubt waiting until morning to bloom. Izuku felt like he could relate to these flowers around him more than his own kind.

Sighing, he turned over to his open notebook. This time, he had gotten record all the flowers that grew on the northern end of the village. He was excited for morning to come so he could show his mother his illustrations. She always had a talent for embroidery and would take her son's drawings as inspiration for the multitude of dresses and other various clothes she was expected to create or mend.

It felt nice being of use to his mother.

But the air around him grew stale, and Izuku had the faint sensation that time was, indeed, passing. Among the ethereal beauty of blossoms in moonlight, he caught the scent of nothingness. It honestly should've unsettled him more than it did, how the air smelled of static.

Before he could get up and investigate, an all too familiar shadow blocked out the moon. Overhead, rubies locked onto emeralds. An ever present scowl gave away the identity of the intruder.

_No please, _He thought. _Not here._

Fear blossomed in the pit of Izuku's stomach. The flower fields outside of Musutafu were where he was supposed to feel at ease, but he knew all too well what the ill tempered blond was capable of. He had learned his lesson once, he wouldn't get burned again.

Scurrying back from where the alpha stood over him he reached out for his notebook and bag, trying his hardest to map out an escape. Of course, the alpha above him was faster, stronger, and a capable hunter. He must've been acutely aware of their surroundings, because as Izuku scuttled backwards to get away from his unwanted guest, he found himself back up against a flat rock that jutted out of the ground that had gone unnoticed.

The taller boy above him lunged forward, slamming his fist against the rock right next to his head, effectively trapping him. Izuku felt like a rabbit about to be devoured by an insatiable, wolf, and as he glanced over where Katsuki had punched the rock, he noticed cracks radiating outward. He grew slightly agitated, the flames from earlier returning to heat up his body, egged on by the alphas presence.

Izuku should've been scared of the situation, but his body continued to betray him. Ever since he had presented at the young age of 5, he'd felt helpless, worthless because of his second gender. How his second gender would decide things for him, and would leave him powerless.

_Not right now, _He shut his eyes. _Please let me go_.

Izuku should've been mortified, but his traitorous body welcomed the Alpha above him, singing praises when Katsuki gripped his hip with his other hand to steady himself.

Katsuki. Peaking his eyes open he was met with that same shade of red that had assaulted him earlier. Looking deeper, searching through his eyes, Izuku found no trace of malintent in those crimson irises. Searching the Alpha further produced a distinct lack of scent, which Izuku found concerning. Although, Katsuki's scent lingered on his clothing, which his treacherous body yearned to bury his nose in to catch the spicy cinnamon scent of the other.

Katsuki held his gaze, and time stood still. He made the first move, moving his head to graze his nose alongside Izuku's scent gland, pleased to find no foreign scents, just Izuku's own pleasant evergreen Omegan scent. Exactly what he had expected to find. He let out a sigh against the others ear, which Izuku leaned into.

"Oi, Deku, _what the fuck_ are you doing out here at this time," Katsuki groaned out between clenched teeth right beside his ear.

"What the hell is auntie Inko going to think when she finds out your wandering so close to the forest, huh?" Katsuki took a heavy breath. "You trying to send her to an early grave by making her worry?"

Izuku would be lying to himself if the possessiveness in Katsuki's voice didn't stoke the fire that grew in the pit of his stomach, but as the flames inside him grew, so did his anger. Anger that Katsuki thought he could just ignore what had just occurred between the two.

"I don't know, _Kacchan,_" Izuku's voice dripped with contempt like honey from a beehive. "I wouldn't think an Alpha like you would be concerned about _my_ safety."

He knew he struck a chord when the other young man released his hip and towered over him, both hands above Izuku's head and a scowl on his face .

"Listen here, nerd-"

"No you _listen here_, Kacchan!" Izuku lashed out, freckles ablaze in the moonlight and green eyes filled with sorrow, the flame in the pit of his stomach grew brighter. "What makes you think you can even look at me after what you did!"

Katsuki leaned forward fully intending on defending himself when Izuku launched what Katsuki would call a very impressive right hook directly at his jaw.

Surprised and somewhat excited (turned on), he stumbled back cradling his jaw in his hand. Nothing seemed broken, so he guessed he could forgive the unruly omega.

But the Omega wasn't intent to take this lying down. Izuku had gotten up from the trampled flowers and adopted a fighting stance, his bag slung safely around his shoulder.

_He looks like a chicken_, Katsuki thought to himself. _What kinda fighting stance is that?_

"What the hell did I do to you, Kacchan?" He continued. "We used to be friends, you've never hurt me before!" Tears flowed freely from his eyes now, his freckles glistening wet in the moonlight.

Katsuki kept his fist balled up at his side. He was seriously not in the mood to fight with Deku, he just wanted to do what he came out here to do; to send Izuku packing back home, and go back to bed himself.

"Deku-"

"Explain yourself!"

"I'm fucking trying, okay! You want to explain to me how everytime you come around I feel like I'm walking on air? You want to explain to me why my inner Alpha singled you out and focuses only on you?"

Izuku took a step back, his feet bumping along the tall stone. Katsuki wasn't finished yet.

"Do you, Izuku, want to explain to me why, ever since your own scent emerged when we were younger, my Alpha has wanted you, and only you?"

"Hah! Real funny, Ka-"

"And when you were walking around yesterday, with that disgusting scent of someone else all over you? Underneath that disgusting _fake scent_, you smelled like you'd gotten fucking claimed, and you were flaunting it? You wanna hear that I'm so-"

"That's enough! I don't want to hear anymore from you!" Izuku fell down to his knees, matting down the tulips that lay below him. "It's bad enough you hurt me, but do you really have to make fun of me like that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Deku." Katsuki felt himself snarling.

"That! Pretending that I have a scent! What, did the other Alphas put you up to this? '_Hey Katsuki, go pretend that Midoriya kid has a scent, make him believe he's not a freak!_' Is that it?"

"Listen, believe what you want to believe about yourself. Personally, I couldn't give a shit about rumours some extras spread about me, but right now your scent is coming out really distressed and I need to get you home."

_Good job Katsuki, calm and collected, you didn't scream at him at all_, he cheered himself on inwardly.

"Hah would that make you feel better, Mr. Alpha?" Izuku's tone was coming out more and more sarcastic, completely uncharacteristic of an omega.

Katsuki moved forward quietly and squatted down beside the crying omega and rubbed a thumb against the tears on Izuku's cheek. "Yes, actually. It would."

"Don't touch me." Izuku sounded forlorn, defeated.

"See, just right then your scent became stable and fresh." Katsuki took let out a sigh. " Just like always, before it went distressed again."

"You've gotten better at lying, Kacchan." Deku didn't seem to have much energy left in him, as he didn't push Katsuki's hand away.

"When have I ever lied to you?"

Izuku smiled, something Katsuki hadn't seen in a very long time.

"Back when we were kids, you once told me that fireflies were made of real fire."

"Oi, I was a brat back then."

"You also told me that when people died, they became the trees in the forest around town."

"You can't fucking prove that wrong." Katsuki grumbled. "Spooky ass trees…"

Izuku kept his head down. "When we were kids you once said you'd never hurt me…"

Katsuki's memories of his and Deku's childhood were not the clearest, having been separated right when puberty began in them. As a result of their separation, there weren't many things Katsuki remembered.

_For shitty Deku to have remembered something like that, it must've meant a lot to him,_ Katsuki mused.

Upon those words, the black hand of shame squeezed long and hard on Katsuki's heart.

"Listen, Izuku…"

Izuku perked his head up, the sound of his name from the other's mouth a strange occurrence.

"I admit I was out of fucking line when I," Katsuki took a shakey breath, unsure of how to approach this. He hated apologizing. "It was wrong of me to do what I did okay. I shouldn't have, fuck! I shouldn't have attacked you like that. But when I caught your scent, which I'm not lying about damn it! I just, my Alpha just took over, wanted to claim you right then and there."

"You're not going to give that up are you. Insisting I have a scent?"

"Why would I when it's fucking true, Deku?"

"I don't, I can't believe you, Katsuki."

Izuku's body seemed to have used the last of its energy fighting with Katsuki and seemed to be on the verge of toppling over. Katsuki didn't need his inner alpha to guide him through this, this time when Izuku fell from weariness, he fell into strong, awaiting arms rather than cold blankets.

Katsuki could tell the Omega wasn't asleep, just tired. He knew the feeling. Out of habit, he reached a hand up to Izuku's forehead, and withdrew it when he noticed the younger man's temperature was slightly high. He needed to get him home.

"Kacchan?" A small voice asked, muffled by his chest.

"Y-yeah?" Katsuki's voice did not fucking crack.

"What do I smell like?"

Shit that was too much for him. He felt like a brat again, weaving through the cobblestone streets and running through flowers with Deku at his side.

"You smell like-" Katsuki ran a hand through the emerald hair, picking out a stem or two that had gotten caught in the unruly curls. "Like the forest. You smell like fresh pine, and the crisp air from a mountain top. When your happy or laughing, I get hit with a hint of mint. Whenever your upset, you smell like dirt underneath an old log."

Izuku scrunched up his nose at that one, images of scurrying bugs and moldy wood didn't rank too high on his list of favorite things.

"You kinda smell like that right now…"

"Hey!" Izuku smacked a hand across Katsuki's chest without any real force behind it. "You'd be upset too if someone told you they smelt like bugs and rotting wood."

Katsuki's inner alpha was elated at the current state, although Katsuki was careful not to move too quickly. He leaned back and clasped his fingers around Izuku's chin, guiding him to look up at Katsuki. In the early morning light, a delicious red blush was smattered across his cheeks. Katsuki's thoughts began to wonder if there were other parts of the Omega that flushed red when embarrassed.

Izuku was content however, except for one small detail. The more time he spent exchanging quips with Kacchan, the more time he spent in the Alphas tone arm that really he had no business in since he was still unsure if he should forgive him, the more that dull spark that had been pestering him since he had woken up grew into a blazing fire. And now, with Katsuki's fingers lifting up his chin to stare directly into his eyes, his lips parted and face flushed, his body seemed to take over.

When Izuku pushed their lips together in a small, innocent kiss, it was nothing like he'd thought it'd be. There was no hunger, no fire raging inside the Alpha male. Perhaps it was scent suppressant, but Katsuki was thinking _very _clearly. Instinctively, his hands roamed down to caress the Omegas wide hips and down further still to Deku's thick thighs of corded muscle, eliciting small moans from between Izuku's lips as he took control and deepened the kiss.

The Alpha knew he was in trouble. Katsuki never intended for this to happen. He never intended for their bodies to be this close. But as the hot-headed blonde towered over the small green haired omega, and the bated breath from the smaller man's parted lips mingled with his own, Katsuki couldn't find it in himself to pull away.

Until he smelt it. In a purely instinctual move, Izuku separated from him and brought his scent gland to graze along Katsuki's, a motion typically used when marking a mate. When Izuku pulled away again, he wore a frown.

"Kacchan…" He was panting, face red, lips swollen, and sitting almost directly on the Alpha's lap. He looked absolutely debauched. "Why can't I smell you right now, Kacchan?"

His question fell on deaf ears, however. Katsuki had caught Izuku's scent, and it had changed yet again. Rather than the evergreen freshness he normally exuded, a petrichor scent hung heavy in the air accompanied by a pleasant sweet aroma. If Katsuki didn't know any better he'd think that-

He shot up from his position on the ground, throwing a flushing Izuku off him with an indignant yelp.

"Kacchan, what's-"

Katsuki's mother's words from the day before echoed in his mind.

"_Especially when you come home late, smelling like an Omega in preheat!_"

Is this what that was? Katsuki had no way to tell, but he had to get out of here, out of the flower fields before the sweat building up on him washed off the suppressant on his scent gland.

"Kacchan~" he heard a whine underneath him.

He looked down at the Omega and instantly regretted it. His disheveled hair, his parted lips and his shirt hanging off his shoulder were everything Katsuki had ever asked for.

_No, not like this_, he screamed inwardly. _Not when he probably still hates me_

Auntie Inko, she'd know what to do. Izuku was her son after all. He'd take Deku to her, let her take care of him before he made a mistake tonight.

He lifted Izuku up and tried leading him through the flowers, only for Izuku to refuse to walk entirely, content to just lean against Katsuki's back and pepper small kisses along the nape of his neck, crooning. Realizing he wasn't going to get anywhere like that, he turned around and scooped Izuku up, bridal style, and began the arduous trek home through the flower fields, all the while resisting Izuku's weak advances and grasping hands.

He doesn't know how he eventually made it to Auntie Inko's front door. He doesn't know how exactly he made it through the entire village carrying an Omega in what he could only assume was the first stages of heat without alerting anyone. Everyone seemed to be inside their houses, not yet ready to face the day.

He stopped at the threshold, reaching out to knock slow and rough, careful not to drop a dizzy Izuku who had managed to work his hands up into Katsuki's hair. Katsuki didn't know how much more he could take. The suppressant was wearing off more and more every second, and the Omega's unmarred neck was looking more and more appealing to him

He began to feel his claiming fangs begin to protrude when the door in front of him flung open. "Izuku, I've been worried sick! Where have you bee-"

Inko Midoriya took one look at her son, still in the Alphas arms with his hands entangled in blond hair, his eyes filled with lust, and his neck free of any marks, and then looked up at the Katsuki, his eyes hungry and clouded, fangs beginning to peak out from a tightly closed mouth.

"Katsuki, please," she reached her arms. "Katsuki, give him here. Give me my son"

Katsuki's inner Alpha had the perfect timing. As he was about to pass the green haired Omega to the older Beta, a tremor of possessiveness tore through him.

**NO.**

**OURS.**

**CLAIM.**

**OURS.**

With an amazing display of self control, Katsuki finished handing over the dazed Omega, ignoring Deku's cries of '_please, Kacchan_' and '_Don't leave me_' as best he could. His inner Alpha had done enough, he decided.

With her son secure in her arms and the Alpha trying his best to reign himself in, Inko gave the poor young Bakugou a thankful stare. Awkward and feeling out of place, Katsuki gave nothing more than a nod of acknowledgement to the older Midoriya as the door was shut and the lock put in place.

Still not sure what had just happened he decided it'd be best to head to his own home. He didn't need to keep his parents waiting for their early morning 'talk'.

He walked home alone, feeling like he'd only made the situation worse.

Izuku was laying in the fields on his back, his arm brought up alongside his face to fiddle with a delicate white flower that grew there all alone. Katsuki approached him on whispered footsteps. The moon overhead watched silently as two childhood friends reconciled.

**A/N: I know damn well I wasn't going to let Izuku spend his first heat with Kacchan while he still hated him. That's a little too problematic, right? Haha, anyways, as always, lemme know what you think, Love ya! Toodles~**


	5. Snapdragon - Deception

The Scarlet King, Enji Todoroki, first of his name, was above lazing about on a throne. He was born for the battlefield; his hard, muscled arms were crafted for the sole reason of splitting the shoulders of men from their spines. He was born to conquer.

The king grew weary when made to sit and listen to some pompous envoy from some pathetic outlier village he had recently conquered babble about trading policies and interest rates. He wished the best for his kingdom, but, really, He was above it all.

"You absolutely cannot allow the Thelinians to continue trade with your village. I am appalled. I cannot imagine a greater affront to the luminous, radiant King Enji, who liberated your people so graciously…"

King Enji eyes lazed up from where he lay sprawled atop his throne in the great hall, his eyes silent embers. The head council, who was addressing the village representatives laid out before him, was a round slob, and was a brownnose of the first degree.

The king had occupied the space on his throne in the great hall since early that morning. His advisors had convinced him that this was an urgent matter that required his presence. King Enji didn't buy it. Try as he might, he found more interest in the metalwork on his royal chair than in the words of weak men.

"That's enough of that," the king shifted on his throne. "Is my presence actually required, or was your intent to bore me with issues that can clearly be settled amongst yourselves. I'm sure there are plenty of causes worth my time elsewhere."

The alphas who knelt before him were once the leaders of the City of Rigo, if Enji recalled correctly.

As per King Enji's last decree, every single male omega who resided in the capital city of Yuuei was to report to the royal physician for a mandatory medical sterilization. An attempt on King Enji's part to reduce the population of those abominations and prevent the curse that he was certain male omega's represented from taking hold in his kingdom.

The City of Rigo was one settlement that was offering sanctuary to male omega's who fled from the capital to avoid the procedure. In King Enji's eyes, they were fugitives. After conquering Rigo, as a punishment for their crimes against the Todoroki empire, King Enji had decreed that any alpha of Rigo who granted a male omega sanctuary would have their tongue cut out, so that they will be unable to lie to him again. Their scents would hold no secrets. As such, the representatives of Rigo maintained their silence.

The counselor ruffled the collar around his greasy neck.

"Your Majesty. Your warm, blazing, superior-"

"Your Majesty is enough."

The advisor cleared his throat, his full attention on the giant of a man before him. Now, off his throne and on his feet, the king of the Todoroki empire was an imposing figure.

"I-I believe I can handle this on my own, your majesty..." A deep bow followed.

With a huff, King Enji propelled himself from the raised dais, his every move confident and flashy, and made towards the heavy oaken double doors at the side of the great hall that he knew would lead him to the central gardens. Throwing them open, King Enji allowed his body to stand taller, stretching to his impressive full height as he inhaled deeply.

The great hall was beginning to stink of foreigners.

His advisor and his personally stationed maid were awaiting him, and both greeted the alpha cautiously. The maid bore her neck in a show of respect.

"My King," his advisor, an old crone of a beta with stark gray hair cut short at the collar of her uniform, spoke first and gave a curt bow. "You have excused yourself from your court earlier than expected. Is there anything I am permitted to offer or assist in?"

A deep sigh escaped the king.

"I've already conquered Rengamura to the south and Eldfall to the east. There remain no territories surrounding Yuuei city that would benefit us, nor are worth my attention. Thelinia still remains a thorn in our side, but as of yet we can not breach their defenses."

The king paused. "My attention is best directed at extending our reach northwards, towards the settlement of Maritama. Our only hope of victory against the Thelinian rebellion lies in a siege."

Another sigh. "Perhaps if my son would be willing to finally take on the mantle of prince, I'd grant him the honor of listening to the complaints of broken men."

Turning his attention from the older beta, the Todoroki monarch's eyes came to rest on the young woman before him.

A small thing, Chiyume was her name. She was chosen for her position as maidservant to the king primarily by her looks. With hair so bleached by the sun that it took on a white pallor accompanied by a petite stature, Chiyume would undoubtedly be the envy of the kingdom. That is, if she ever left her post outside the royal bedchambers. Jealousy among the maids at Todoroki Castle was a common occurrence.

The king approached her with a sense of familiarity, silently dismissing his advisor. "Now then, Chiyume. Would you do me the honor of escorting me to my son's chambers? I would very much like to discuss with him."

Charcoal and ash filled the air. Chiyume offered him a bright smile and a curtsy.

"Of course my king. Please, follow me."

King Enji's only son had claimed the west tower's bedchambers as his when he had been but a small pup. At first, his son would tell him that he enjoyed the view of the rolling hills of their domain rising to mountains on the countryside, but Enji liked to think he knew his son better than that. After all, a rudimentary school for omegas had been built in full view of the west tower. He suspected his son had invested in a telescope to view them from afar.

King Enji rejoiced that his son was just as proud in his alphan bloodline as his father.

The king and his maid journeyed up the west tower, the latter doing her best to stay ahead of the king's long strides.

At the top of their climb, they came face to face with the prince's guard. Two alphas, each imposing in their own way, stared back at the king and offered curt bows.

As King Enji approached, the taller of the two guards surged forward, the alpha's broad shoulders intent on keeping the king from advancing. Behind him, the shorter alpha girl bared her teeth, her ebony hair collected behind her in a high ponytail.

They were both donning the standard issue armor for any knight of the Todoroki empire. The emblem of the empire, the open maw of a dragon, ready to devour, was emblazoned on their chests.

"Halt, your majesty," the male alpha spoke. "We are under direct orders from his grace to not allow anyone to disturb him, no matter whom or what."

"Unfortunately that includes you, your highness," followed the female alpha.

This didn't deter the red haired king.

"Now why don't you tell me," King Enji advanced towards the male alpha guard, challenging his display of dominance. "Exactly what has got my son, the prince, so engaged that he cannot even spare a moment for his own sire?"

King Enji did not wait for a response. From beneath the thick oak doors separating him from his son floated forth the scent of musk and patchouli. The scent he had already come to know as the prince's scent during a rut.

The king let out of burst of proud laughter. "Truly a splendid alpha. Surely he takes after his father!"

Both guards visibly tensed.

"Worry not," King Enji assured them both. "I was not aware that my son's rutting season would happen so soon after his previous one." With a rather dignified expression he retreated back to where he had left his maid at the landing of the tower stairs.

"This has got to be the fifth rut in five months, am I correct Chiyume?"

"You are correct, your highness. Normally, alphas only experience a maximum of three ruts per year."

King Enji cast his gaze back on the two guards. "Huh, she's beautiful _and_ educated," he spoke to the air. "Now if only my son would find someone like her...nevertheless, I'm taking my leave now. When the prince is made decent, inform him that I request his presence."

He didn't wait for a response, and made his exit as quickly and calculated as his entrance, his maid trailing behind him on the staircase. Tension visibly seeped out of Prince Todoroki's personal guard.

Momo Yaoyorozu had never anticipated how intimidating the King of the Todoroki empire could truly be in person. Even now she could still feel the feverish heat of his presence on her skin, and she rubbed her arms together to try to shake off the feeling.

Inasa stood beside her, having retreated back to prince Shoto's bedroom door. She could only imagine what Inasa was feeling, having stood up to the king. She offered a comforting hand on his shoulder. She received a short grunt from the usually energetic alpha.

"You should go in there and make sure the prince is alright," Inasa nodded towards the door, whispering despite being alone. "I'm not sure I'll be able to restrain myself if I go."

Inasa was right. She'd have to go in there and do a routine check on the prince. Steeling herself, she pushed open the door and slammed it shut behind her before Inasa could be tempted to force it open.

Almost immediately she was hit with the signature scent of that medicine woman's concoction. Empty vials of perfumes and lotions lay strewn about the room. The main centerpiece was the prince's bed, recessed into the back wall, hidden from sight by heavy silken curtains.

The overwhelming scent of patchouli filled her lungs as she took in a breath before pulling back the curtains, exposing her prince.

Soft moans cascaded out of the alcove, a persistent wet sound accompanying them. The prince lay in the center of the bed, curled up like a newborn pup, his hands hidden between his legs as soft pants escaped his lips.

Momo was unsure if Shoto was awake, fully aware that he would continue seeking release even when his body demanded sleep. Her suspicions were cleared when the prince raised his head, dual toned eyes unfocused and looking through her.

"M-M-momo...ple-ase...Ina...sa...need-"

The sheen of sweet smelling slick glistened down his thighs. Were Momo a lesser alpha, she would be afraid of losing control of her inner alpha and falling into a rut around the prince. As it were, they had to do something. Cast aside on the floor was the last bottle of fake alpha scent they had on hand, depressingly empty. Shoto's unnaturally strong omega pheromones cut through their stock rather quickly.

But Momo took an oath to protect her prince, no matter the cost. "It takes seven days to get to the capital from Musutafu, but i'll send for Madame Uraraka immediately, please my prince, be patient."

* * *

**A/N: This chapter marks the conclusion of the "Chamomile" Arc and also introduces Prince Shouto! What secrets could our prince be hiding, and how might this affect Katsuki and Izuku's small village? **


	6. Lilac - New Love

**A/N: Hi guys! I'm so glad to be back and at this again. This chapter marks the beginning of the "House of Flowers" arc, meaning it's only going this medieval epic is only going to pick up from here. Thank you all for being patient while I struggled to figure everything out! **

He really fucking hated sweat. Okay, fine that was going too far, maybe. Being covered in sweat meant he had put in a day of work. One more day put towards rising to the top. Of pushing his body further and further until eventually he'd be absolutely sure he'd be the strongest alpha to inherit the title the chief in this backwater of a town. But when he hadn't gotten a good nights sleep in days and could literally feel his shirt fusing with his back, yeah he could say he fucking hated being sweaty.

He wouldn't have to be in this position right now. The damned sun hadn't even come up yet. If this were a normal day, he'd still be in his bed. He wouldn't be filthy, the inside of his mouth wouldn't taste like shit, and he'd probably be able to think clearly.

But this wasn't a normal day. You might be asking, "Well why the fuck not?" Well, if this were a 'normal' day for him, he wouldn't be standing there, in front of aunty Inko, her son cradled in his arms and Katsuki's teeth grazing the other boy's scent glands. Katsuki wouldn't be left alone, staring dumbfounded like a fish at the pale wood of the Midoriya's front door.

He sure as hell didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of the mother of the only omega whose scent he could actually tolerate. Nevermind that it had to be that stupid deku's fault. Sneaking out in the middle of the night and shit, the nerd could have gotten lost in the freaky tall flowers that surrounded their village. And then Deku just _had_ to go into heat right after they had gotten done making up and shit. Katsuki swore that the omega had no sense of timing.

Katsuki's brain went on autopilot after that. He didn't remember when his legs started moving, taking him farther and farther away from Izuku's delicious chamomile scent. He only snapped out of it when he stumbled upon something he really shouldn't have seen.

It was really quite romantic really. A pair of villagers, an alpha and omega, huddled in the dark corner between two buildings Katsuki had been blindly walking alongside. Rays of moonlight cascaded down the omegas body as the alpha, cast in shadows, embraced them, peppering kisses down their throat. A tradition, a promise to claim. Really fucking wished he could have tried to do something like that with the omega he was currently trying to woo, but gods above he was sure Deku would find some way to ruin it. _Nah_, his brain supplied regretfully, _Deku would love it. 's always blabbing about romance and true love and shit_.

Katuski realized he might look like a creep, considering he hadn't moved from his spot, his feet glued to the cobblestone, and he was currently staring at the pair in the dark like some sort of deprived animal. He stumbled out of his trance when the omegas scent travelled to his nose. The omega had been letting it out loosely as it hadn't expected the company of more than one. The omega was obviously unclaimed, their smooth pale neck glowed in the moonlight - _Deku's looks better_ \- but their scent, to Katsuki it was almost repulsive. Too sweet, too clingy, too helpless, it was too much for the blond alpha. It was always the same story. To Katsuki, it felt like every omega in this village of theirs was trying to suffocate him with their scent. They always left him gasping for air, and not in the good way. He even tried seeing if it was maybe just the village's omegas, but when outsiders came to have discussions with his mother, the village chief, he'd been met with the same fate when catching their omega compainion's scents.

_Only Deku, _his thoughts reminded him again as he began to walk away again. _Only Deku is good. _He didn't even get what was so special about omegas. After all, as soon as they presented, omegas were whisked away to be pruned and plucked and taught all sorts of omega shit. Before last night Katsuki hadn't spoken a full sentence to the green eyed boy for about 5 years. Now that he was an adult, Katsuki still hadn't really talked to a single omega, far too busy training in the woods with a reluctant shitty haired beta trailing behind him. Apparently Deku was exactly what he needed. The omega's scent relaxed him rather than repel him. Deku had proven himself to be strong and resilient, having grown up without an alpha to protect him. To be fair, Katsuki did know one thing about omegas, having examined many couples out and about the village. He was absolutely not going to put up with some clingy omega that demanded all his attention and wouldn't be any good for anything besides a cook and a bed warmer. _Can Deku even cook?_

Katsuki supposed it was only normal for the other boy to be cautious around him. It's not like they were strangers or anything. He and Deku were just placed on different paths. But despite not speaking in years it seemed to him that Izuku was just as interested in him as he was in the omega. In the past, Katsuki had caught the others eyes when the omega would chance a look at him. Katsuki's alpha instincts forced him to outright preen in front of the omega, sending a message of _'Hey nerd, come and get it_._'_ Their little game of cat and mouse went on like that silently for years, finally coming together last night…

"_**Kacchan~"**_

Nope, no, no, he did not need that goddamn memory popping up into his head right now. Not right now, when he still couldn't figure out how to deal with this mess. Looking up out of exasperation, Katsuki caught a beautiful sight. The sun had just begun to shine it's golden light alongside the Dagobah mountains to the east of the village of Musutafu. He hated it. Before Katsuki could find a way to punch the shit out of the sun, however, he realized he was at his front doorstep.

Katsuki had snuck out the night before to pursue a certain fleeing Deku, and he really hoped that he could avoid confronting his parents on his way back inside his house. He could deal with his father; at most, the older beta would just shake his head and tell him not to do it again. The old hag, on the other hand. Oh boy, he'd rather not think about it. Failing to notice the light of a single candle shining through the window, he pushed open the front door as silently as he could. Not that it helped, fucking thing was made of wood so old, he wouldn't be surprised if half the damn village was awake because of him. On drunken feet Katsuki stumbled inside and shut the door behind him as swiftly but quietly as he could. Not that that helped, either. His parents were already waiting for him.

"Katsuki~," came Mitsuki's call from where she sat at the kitchen table, her husband desperately rubbing his arm against hers in an attempt to quell her rage. "Did you enjoy your little midnight stroll?"

The younger alpha remained silent. It was clear his mother wasn't done talking just yet.

"Goodness me, look at the state of you, brat. You've bigger bags under your eyes than those in the markets. Gods above, if only our farmers returned from their fields loaded with bags of crops as big as yours then our village would truly be prosperous."

Katsuki really wasn't in the right state of mind to deal with this slightly deserved earful.

"I'm heading for my room, I don't want to hear this."

"Well, Katsuki, you know what _I_ don't want. I don't want to have to worry about what trouble my son, who, in case you forgot, is supposed to be in line to be the next chief, is getting up to in the middle of the night." She stood up from the table, leaving her husband behind. "So tell me Katsuki, what exactly were you up t-"

Sure, Katsuki had gotten into fights with his mother before. They've all but torn up their living space and left behind the wreckage for the quieter of the Bakugou to pick up the pieces. But, for the first time in Katsuki's life, his own sharp red eyes and pointed canines were directed at him. Katsuki stared into his mother's eyes and she stared back. In that moment he knew that she knew. He was so screwed.

He cursed himself inwardly. Even in his sleep deprived state, how could he have been so careless? Not more than two hours ago had he had Izuku laid out in his lap. Not more than two hours ago had he accidently coaxed the poor omega into a heat. Of course the pheromones were bound to stick to his skin like glue.

For a few moments, it seemed like Mitsuki was conflicted. First she was shocked, then angry, and then, with a small smile, she maneuvered around her son and promptly exited their home, slamming the door behind her. Masaru was at a loss for words, longing for his alpha to come back and resolve this argument. Katsuki decided it was best for him to finally get some sleep, and made his way upstairs to his bedroom without a glance at his father. _Fucking finally_, he thought, _It's been way too long._ He collapsed into bed in the clothes he was wearing. Something that he almost certainly would find disgusting once he woke up, but he hadn't slept in almost a day.

He must have slept for quite some time, because by the time he woke up, the sun was high in the sky and shining directly on his face from in between his curtains. He tossed his sheets off of him and sat up, grasping the front of his shirt from in between his hands.

"Disgusting."

He peeled it off of his body, feeling the dried sweat and dirt moving against his skin. Not being able to wait any longer, he shot up off the bed and made his way to the bath room, his shirt still pulled halfway over his head. Upon entering the room, he found it blessingly full of steam, the water basin seemed to have been filled recently. Alongside the wall, all his favorite perfumes and soaps were lined up. His father must have gotten this ready for him. Great, he'd have to thank him later.

After showering and destroying the germs in his mouth using the paste he'd gotten from the round face girl that hung around Deku once as a birthday gift, he made his way downstairs to find the table set with all manner of his favorite dishes but still no father or Hag in sight. He ate his fill, careful not to gorge himself or he'd risk messing up his training.

Katsuki decided it'd be best not to wait around for his mother to show up, especially since he had no idea how to react to that mess that happened last night. How was he supposed to react to the old hag smelling fucking heat pheromones on him. She'd probably assume the worst. She's probably hunting out there in the village hunting down the supposed omega he snuck out to meet with.

Lost and looking for something to do, Katsuki sets his sights on sparring, and set out to find his fighting dummy, Kirishima. The red headed beta wasn't anything special with a longsword, but at least he could last longer than most of the other alphas in the village against Katsuki's explosive technique. Before he could make his way across the village, his ears caught the thundering of boots before the booming horns of the hunting party flooded the village square. Shock and awe filled the townspeople as the huntsmen and foragers returned from their hunt. Katsuki took a seat on a stone fence, looking on at the commotion with what he hoped was disinterest. To be completely fucking honest, Katsuki believed he should be part of the hunts, too. The smartest, strongest alphas who could prove themselves as leaders always started out in the hunting parties. And gods above knows he's tried to join them. The only thing one needs before joining is the endorsement of the village chief. Now that's something that Katsuki never gotten. Not even his mother seems to think he's worthy.

He really must've zoned out, because before he knew it two bodies had draped themselves across his shoulders."Bakugou!" shouted the first one, a girl. "We've missed your grumpy face so much."

Katsuki tried pushing them off, shouting out every obscenity he knew and creating some new ones while he was at it. This only made them laugh and latch on harder, because of course nothing could leave him alone with his thoughts for too long before deciding on screwing with him. With a couple well aimed swats and thrashes, Katsuki managed to shake them off, and as he reached for weapon at his side that wasn't there his assaillants came into view behind him, coughing and laughing in the dirt. At the sight of Mina and Kaminari he hesitated. He still kinda wanted to kill them for messing with him, though.

"Don't tell me you're looking for this, Bakugou?" from behind him, Sero joined them clutching a small sheath under his armpit. He must've snatched it while he was occupied with idiot #1 and idiot #2.

"Hand it over before you stink it up, beanpole," Katsuki threatened. Sero surprisingly obliged, only to take a seat back next to him and continue to pester him, Mina and Kaminari joining them on the ground. After a long stretch of awkward silence, Mina decided to ruin Katsuki's peace and quiet.

"So," Mina fiddled with her thumbs. "We had a really good hunt this week." The female alpha looked over at Sero, nudging the beta's legs.

"Uh, yeah," It was Sero's turn to twiddle his thumbs. "We caught a couple of deer, we found that lone bull that was terrorizing old man Kirishima's fields..."

At the mention of the name, Kaminari perked up. "By the way, how is Kirishima. I bet you spend a lot of time with him since you're not allowed to go on the hunts." As always, Kaminari was unable to read the room.

"I'm pretty sure he didn't-"

"He didn't mean to-"

Katsuki didn't even react to Kaminari's words, which actually wasn't all that unusual unless the electric blond really pressed his buttons. The hunts were always a sore topic for Katsuki, so to be taunted about them and not bursting out at Kaminari was uncharacteristic.

"Hey Bakugou, what's got you all dazed out like that?" Mina reached up a hand as if to check Katsuki's temperature, but it was promptly swatted away.

"Oh I can name exactly one thing that can put Bakugou in this kind of mood," Sero said. "And he's bright green eyes and freckles _all over._"

"You don't fucking know that soy-sauce!"

"I wonder what Midoriya is doing out and about. He usually tends to stay on the outskirts of the village."

Katsuki really couldn't stop himself from staring. Not more than twenty feet away was the source of his main turmoil. Looking just as dazed and confused as he felt. Katsuki assumed that Aunty Inko must've given Izuku some suppressants for his heat. He wouldn't put it past the over protective mother omega to have some relatively strong medicines in her arsenal. Especially if Izuku was out and about this soon. Izuku and his mom walked further away and Katsuki tried his best the green haired omega in his field of view. It wasn't until they were far gone that he noticed that all three of his 'friends' were staring at him with shit eating grins on their faces.

"Hey, did something happen between you and Midoriya?"

"Shut up, pinky," Katsuki really wanted to get some fresh air all of a sudden. "Go to hell, all of you."

"Awe, love you too, man." Kaminari called from his spot on the ground, waving the angry alpha goodbye."

Katsuki weaved his way through the crowds of people gathering to greet the hunters, and the townspeople began to part around him like a shark. Reaching the other side of town, where most of the housing were built, he followed the path that he knew would take him to Kirishima's. He didn't make it very far when a hand wrapped around the back of his neck. Normally he would have gone on the offense, but a quick scenting revealed it to be his dam. He hadn't even heard the damn hag sneak up on him.

"Katsuki, you're going to be a good boy and come with me, okay?"

"What the fu-"

"And before you start blowing up like you usually do, I want you to know that I have a gift for you."  
Normally he'd be just a slight bit skeptical, but considering what had occurred the night before Katsuki was more than a little nervous.

_Maybe if I twist myself this way, her grip will loosen enough for me to trip her_. Like usual, his mind was working overtime, trying to find the best plan of action. He never got to do anything worthwhile, however, because just as soon as he was about to start struggling for real, they stopped in front of a relatively new looking house. Construction equipment still littered the yard. The crisp white paint on both the house exterior and the small wooden gate looked wet.

"Hey hag, what the fuck is this."  
"This, Katsuki, is your new home. Aren't you excited? I had your father monitor your movements this morning and as soon as you left our house I told him to bring all your clothes and personal belongings here!"

"You're just kicking me out? Don't I get a say in this?"

A whack over the head shut him up. Really, he should've been expecting that.

"Quiet, ungrateful brat. Do you really want to live with mom and dad forever? How are you supposed to show me you're ready to take care of our people when you can't even take care of yourself?"

"What are you talking about? And where did you get a house from? This wasn't here yesterday!"

"Oh, I already had this house mostly prepared. I was just waiting for the right time to give it to you, Katsuki!"

"Whatever, I can take care of myself. And if it means I don't have to hear your screaming in the morning I'm all in."

"Oh you won't be taking care of just yourself, my sweet little brat."

Katsuki paled. What did this evil alpha have up her sleeve.

"As chief of Musutafu, I hereby sentence you to house arrest. You are not to leave the land we stand on until I deem fit. The only way for you to be allowed out is if you can manage to care for the occupants awaiting you inside that house."

"Occupants? Wha-wait who the fuck is in there?"  
Mitsuki once again grabbed him in her iron claw.

"What the hell, let me go. I change my mind I don't agree to this!"

The thought of being trapped inside some hut with a stranger was not appealing to Katsuki.

"Good luck brat, give me some grandbabies!" Mitsuki cackled as she shut the door in her son's face, seemingly barring it from the outside.

"What the fuck! Let me out!" He must've banged and wailed on the heavy oak door for an eternity. When finally he tired out, he slumped to the floor, defeated. His hair hung in his face, his shoulders were hunched over. Someone else was supposed to be in this house with them. He couldn't stand the idea of them seeing him like this. He was startled at the sound of a door sliding.

He had to be hallucinating. This couldn't be real.

Standing in the doorway to what was obviously a bedroom stood the source of his troubles. Eyes blown wide, hair disheveled, and wearing what was probably one of Katsuki's shirts hanging off his shoulder, exposing the pale, freckled skin, that damned nerd had the nerve to ask _him_ what he was doing there.

"K-Kacchan?"


	7. Begonias - Harmony

"Kacchan?"

Crap, crap, crap. Okay, Katsuki knows where he is, sure. He's in this house that his mother had supposedly been working on for a while. Easy enough. Okay, next. He's clean, he's eaten. Could he be hallucinating from lack of sleep? No, not possible, he'd only woken up an hour ago. What's next? The trim alongside the bottom of the walls was a lovely baby blue. If anything he would've preferred a deep emerald green. Kind of like the eyes staring directly at him.

"Kacchan, are you alright? You've been gripping the floorboards really hard. I'm afraid you're going to tear the house apart and I just moved in." The nerd had the nerve to tug at the hem of the shirt he was wearing (Katsuki was positive now, that _was_ one of his shirts) exposing more of that pale, freckled neck. Katsuki noticed belatedly that the omegas evergreen scent had already began to permeate into the walls of the house. There was no escape for him.

"Ha...ha, you're asking _me_ if I'm alright? You really are a damn Deku, huh?"

"That's fine and all Kacchan, but you still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here? And was that your mom, was she here to say goodbye? How rude of you to slam the door in her face!"

Katsuki pulled himself up from the floor and dusted his pants off, admiring the craftsmanship of the room around him. Fully furnished, the house looked perfect for a new couple to start their new life together. Alright, now Katsuki needed some fresh air. He pushed past a still mumbling Deku and into the kitchen, headed straight towards a window facing a fenced-in backyard. _Looks perfect for raising a pup,_ Katsuki's inner thoughts supplied him. "Shut the fuck up," Katsuki supplied back.

"S-sorry, I've been mumbling again, haven't I?" Katsuki winced as the omega's scent immediately soured. His instincts screamed for him to bring the shorter man closer, but he settled for waving a hand in Izuku's general direction. "Not you nerd."

"Oh. Then who, Katsuki? Is there somebody outside?'

This was quickly becoming frustrating for Katsuki. He generally spent most of time alone unless he explicitly sought out company. His so called 'friends' were an exception, but even they sometimes couldn't find him. Here he was, on house arrest or whatever the old hag had called it, enclosed in four walls with the deepest of his desires only an arms length away but so painfully far away.

"Fucking forget about that. Aren't you supposed to be in heat? You look perfectly fucking fine if you ask me. You smell a little bit more than usual anyway." Katsuki said in between gasps of fresh air.

"Sorry, I guess. I don't usually have to worry about my heat, since people can't smell me when I'm in heat anyways unless I purposely rub my pheromones on something. And even then, Iida once told me that the pheromones smell empty. I just- agh this is confusing me. I'm just not used to having to worry about people smelling me."

"You get a kick out of leaving your scent everywhere? Could fucking smell you all over the village."

"What's wrong Katsuki, jealous?"

Well, that was new. Katsuki might've been zoning out because, now that he glanced down, he was quite surprised to see a certain green haired omega attempting to drape himself over Katsuki's body. "Hey, watch it!" Katsuki grasped Izuku's wandering hands between his own, causing the omega to fall forward into him. "What the hell's gotten into you?"

"I guess this is all normal. What's wrong Katsuki? Never been around an omega in heat before?" Izuku giggled, he fucking giggled, and Katsuki watched as the breeze from the open window play with his hair. Katsuki licked his lips, coming back to reality after realizing his claiming teeth were popping out.

"You're really fucking touchy. Normally you'd be running away at the sight of me. Is that because of your heat, too?"

"Awe, Kacchan is so smart," Izuku retreated from the flustered alpha. "Omegas usually seek out physical contact during the first stages of their heat. Then will follow the nesting phase, and the *ahem*," Izuku turned away from Katsuki, trying and failing the hide the blush falling on his face. "Then will come the really horny phase, and after that the heat's over, and I'll usually be back to normal."

"Hah? We were told that omegas were usually always helpless during their heats. What's that about?"

"Oh, that's only when you try to suppress your heat with medicines. Like I said before, I never had to worry about people smelling me in heat, even though my mom usually made me stay indoors."

"Alright, one more question. Who the fuck brought you here."

"My mother. She woke me up this morning and told me to get ready. This was really a big surprise, I didn't think the chief would grant me a whole house all to myself. I can't wait to start decorating it with the flowers I've been studying."

Okay, great. So Deku didn't know he was going to have an unwilling roommate. And on top of that, he was going to fill this place up with wildflowers. Katsuki could feel his blood boiling.

"About that nerd. This house isn't just for you. My _mother_ built this house for me. She intended to give it to me when I proved myself as a man to her."

"Oh that's great Kacchan! What did you do to prove yourself to her?"

Katsuki took a long, hard look at Izuku, then did a once-over over the omega's body, then came back up to look Izuku in the eye.

"I don't get it, Kacchan. What did you do?"

"Well, since the old lady never waited for an explanation, you. The old hag thinks I did you."

An awkward silence stretched out between them. Katsuki took the opportunity to notice the fine detailing on the walls, the thick carpets made of animal hides strewn around the floor, and what looked like three doors leading to three other rooms besides the one they were in. A bathroom, and two bedrooms? **Perfect for Pups.** _Gee, thanks for that, brain _Katsuki thought.

Finally, Izuku squeaked out a response. "O-okay. S-so your m-mother thinks that, that we're…"

"Mates, bonded, expecting a child probably. She smelled your heat pheromones all over me when I came home, and since they probably lacked an identifying scent, she probably knew exactly who they came from."

Katsuki took a step closer to the omega, whose earlier confidence seemed to ooze out of him slowly.

"So this is technically_ my_ nest, omega. And you seem to have made yourself right at home, haven't you?" Katsuki reached a hand up and finally, finally, dared to run his fingers through Izuku's hair. Impossibly soft, it was every bit what Katsuki imagined as he watched the tension flow out of Izuku. "How haughty. Do you know what they call omegas who make themselves at home in an alphas nest?"

"What?" Izuku was hardly paying attention anymore, instead giving his undivided attention to the hand weaving through his hair, much like a kitten. A cute, green, live wire of a kitten.

"Claimed."

Izuku jolted away from Katsuki, leaving the other staring at the empty space where the omega once stood. Katsuki's hand hung still where he was once playing with Izuku's hair. _Where the fuck did he go, _Katsuki hissed as he whipped his head around. Down the hall, a door opened up to a bedroom, and out came bounding an Izuku wrapped up with what looked like fresh linens.

"I'm headed towards the river to wash up, don't wait up for me, don't come after me!"

The door that Katsuki had been trying so hard to push out from the inside swung open. In came a rush of sunlight and the scents of the village, and out went _his omega_. It honestly should not have bothered Katsuki this much. He and Izuku weren't even mated yet, Izuku's neck bore no mark of his, nor any others. And yet, his alpha was quick to claim the short, tantalizing omega.

Well fuck this. After all Katsuki had done to show that oblivious nerd that he, the alpha, was comfortable with him in what was supposed to be their new house, that insufferable omega just ran off. To bathe no less, and wash off any scent of Katsuki's that might have stuck to that compact body of his.

No, no. This wouldn't do. Katsuki was going to have to go down to that stream and drag that omega back to their shared house. And, after that...he had no idea. But he had to start somewhere. Katsuki rushed out in search of the green haired nerd, eager to ignore his mother's warning to not leave the house. After all, his omega was out there, in heat. Izuku needed him, right?


	8. Daisy - Innocence

Izuku trekked his way to the river through a path in the woods he was sure only he and the forest fauna were aware of. He walked alongside the tall, moss covered trees, his leather shoes parting the sea of wildflowers in front of him. He admired each and every one of them as he walked, noting their properties and uses.

Calendula for fevers, Honeysuckle for the skin, he made a mental note to search for his notebook once the chief allowed him back home to gather the rest of his things.

Izuku admired the tenacity of these flowers, growing rampant despite the lack of care they received, even here on the forest floor. He remembered an old book his mother once borrowed from the capital - a thick bundle of parchment covered in a layer of dust - where he read that a long time ago flowers only sprouted in certain parts of the land, and only under certain conditions.

The idea was silly to him as he prodded over amaryllis and poppy alike. Being away from the village always offered a respite for Izuku, but it was short-lived as he reached his destination. His heart beat thundered over the sound of flowing water, and he was reminded of his decision to escape from the house. Oh, what had possessed to escape those four walls?

Izuku finally stumbled upon the river without much trouble and found himself a nice spot upstream, farther away from the other omegas who were taking their afternoon baths. He had already taken a bath that morning, a fact that laughed him in the face and called him a coward. This was just an excuse to get out of the house after all. _But Kacchan has an amazing sense of smell, he'll know if I showered or not…_

There was no other way around it. Izuku began undressing, folding his pants onto a patch of grass and hanging his tunic on a tree branch. He would try to make this as quick as possible._ This is all just a dream_, he mused as he lowered himself into the crystal clear waters, a long sigh escaping him as his whole body relaxed instantly.

_A dream, and in the morning when I wake, Kacchan will go back to normal. _

This entire situation was very odd for Izuku. Instead of growing up learning about his heats and his changing body, he had spent his entire adolescence being told that he wouldn't be able to find a mate or start a family simply because he didn't have a scent. His own beta mother refused to speak on the matter, and no omega even bothered going any further than that; a waste of breath it would be to teach him, they said. The other omegas his age learned how to cook their mother's recipes and picked up a needle to mend their father's clothing while Izuku ventured out to the flower fields and spent his days in isolation.

And of course, _he_ had to come in and change all that. Kacchan, with his striking red eyes and amazing skill with a sword, who would undoubtedly be the next village chief and lead their people into the future. Kacchan, who claimed that he could smell Izuku, and insisted that Izuku had a scent. Katsuki, who deserved a real omega.

He was almost done washing the random bits of dirt and knots out of his hair when a wave of embarrassment crashed over his shoulders. If his mother found out about the way he acted back at the cottage he'd never be permitted to step outside ever again. Where had that come from? Omegas were supposed to be naturally submissive and quiet, but he had acted coy and sultry. The alpha had pushed and Izuku had pushed back harder. Izuku doubted it was because of his oncoming heat - he wouldn't start acting like _that_ for at least another day.

Izuku wasn't sure what to make of it. He chalked it up to Kacchan just being able to push his buttons, making Izuku act differently, and the green haired omega wasn't entirely sure how to feel about it. He looked over his shoulder and watched the silhouettes of the other omegas from the village laughing and gossiping. All of them were content, almost all of them mated - they waded in the river away from Izuku.

He brought a hand up to caress his neck, where his most sensitive scent gland should be. Could that really be waiting for Izuku, if only he'd let it happen? Katsuki seemed to have made it clear that there was something going on between the two of them.

And Izuku would be lying if more often than not the blond alpha was the subject of his heat driven fantasies. His smooth palms rested against his stomach as Izuku stared back at his reflection in the water. What did Katsuki see in him? His hair was wild even when wet. His freckles were far too plenty and his body was not soft like the other omegas.

_Oh well_, Izuku thought as he began to rise out of the water, _let sleeping dogs lie. Nothing bad will happen if I do nothing. _He chuckled to himself._ Not that Kacchan will make that easy._

Katsuki followed the distressed scent of his omega through a winding and untended path through the woods, his teeth clenched. If he was right, Izuku was probably going to bathe amongst his kind, and headed towards the river. The forest air was alive with the laughs and gossip of omegan women, as well as the buzz of insects.

As he approached the riverside, Katsuki had to lay low and take slow steady steps so as to not slip on the soft ground. The riverbank itself was lined with rich, dark soil, allowing the usually small cloudberry sprouts to grow into tall shrubs, and Katsuki stalked closer to the river side in their cover.

He followed the line of overgrowth along the river, being careful to hide himself from the bathing omegas. Katsuki's scent had to be withdrawn, just like his mother had taught him to do when hunting, otherwise it would be carried downstream and blow his cover. As he searched for the telltale sign of Izuku's fluffy hair, a string of movement caught his eye. To the right of him, a little ways off from where he could finally see a mass of emerald, some of the bushes began to shake violently. Katsuki was almost positive that shrubs didn't fucking giggle. **Danger to omega**, his instincts supplied helpfully.

He approached the offending shrub slowly, and dove his hands in, wrenching out the offenders. Two shorter, younger looking alphas, one in each clenched hand, thrashed around in his grasp as they hung from the necks of their shirts and cried out silent screams. Katsuki recognized them as the village's local troublemakers.

"What the fuck do you two think you're doing, huh? Spying on omegas as if runts like you even stand a chance." Katsuki scoffed under his breath at their scared expressions. "Don't let me find you here again, now scram, brats!"

Thoroughly satisfied with scaring the peeping toms away, Katsuki watched the mass of emerald hair move again, and again, until the upper half of Izuku's body was visible and out of the river. To Katsuki, he was stunning. His ivory skin glistened with river water, each freckle a constellation that some deep part of Katsuki yearned to explore. He was almost so preoccupied with staring at Izuku from the hiding spot in the bushes that when the omega began approaching him, Katsuki almost surged forward to capture the smaller man.

But Katsuki was frozen in place as Izuku's naked body reached above him and pulled down a linen to wrap around his waist. _Great, those runts were hiding right underneath my omega's clothing_. Katsuki tried his hardest to control his breathing - seeing his chosen omega like this was doing things to him that no other had done before.

He certainly didn't flinch back as a now clothed Izuku reached a hand forward and plucked a single berry from the shrub, nearly missing Katsuki's nose. "How odd," he mumbled out loud. "I don't think I've ever seen cloudberries the color of blood. How strange." The omega smiled, and Katsuki's heart sped up. "They remind me of a certain hot headed alpha. Although, the flavors are off. These are too sweet. He's more of a spicy kind of man. You would agree, wouldn't you, you pervert?"

Great, he'd been found.

"Tell me, how long has the wolf been stalking his prey? I thought I made it clear I didn't want you to follow me. Now look at you Katsuki, hiding in the bushes like some pup peeping on these bathing omegas."

"Are you jealous?" Katsuki's sharp smile joined his peering red eyes. The omegas scent, still caught somewhere in the earlier stages of heat, flared.

Izuku's face flushed a bright red, stretching down his neck to paint it a delicious pink. Katsuki instinctively licked his lips, his sharp teeth poking through.

"N-no! You can do whatever you want!" The omega began scrambling away, nose high in the air in a show of disinterest.

"You're not even supposed to be out here anyways! Didn't your mother put you on house arrest? I'm apt to fear what might happen when you disobey a direct order from the village chief, never mind your sire." Izuku hurriedly fixed his fresh linens and left Katsuki to stare dumbfoundedly after him through the shrub. The omega sure was being quite mouthy now, especially after he had clammed up earlier.

Katsuki's inner alpha propelled him forward to defend himself, and he completely ignored the shrieks and calls of the other bathing omegas from downstream. They weren't worth paying attention to. No, the one that commanded his attention was currently walking away from him thinking they'd won one of their first arguments. Oh how wrong Deku was.

Katsuki's longer legs made it easier to overtake the omega, and the alpha stopped him with a hand on his chest.

"Oi, you're one to talk about leaving the house." Katsuki closed the gap between the two of them, their noses brushing as that deep blush cascaded over Izuku's face again. "I don't give a shit if it's only the _'early stages'_ of your heat, you should be back home in your nest."

Katsuki watched as Izuku's eyes softened slightly, and relished in the calm scent coming from the shorter man. A handful of different emotions seemed to take turns appearing on the omegas freckled face. Taking Izuku's hand in his own, Katsuki began the short walk back to the village and to their shared house, making sure to avoid any prying eyes by going through dark alleys and weaving in between houses.

The situation he was in was so crazy to him - it seemed so impossible to him to think that he and Izuku would go from longing glances and harsh words (mostly from his part) to running around hand in hand trying to remain hidden from the eyes of the villagers.

"H-hey Kacchan?" A strange noise was beginning to emanate from Izuku's throat. "Don't, don't you think this reminds you of when we were kids?" The alpha and omega raced through the shadows of their village, hidden between houses and fences. He stole a glance back at Izuku, still clutching tight to his hand. Izuku's face wore a wobbly smile, the same smile he'd seen plenty of times before, and when Izuku's eyes met his own, Katsuki returned a small, toothy smile of his own. Under the darkening sky, hand in hand, Izuku burst out laughing. It wasn't some cute omegan giggle used to charm alphas, no. It was deeper, much more familiar. He belted out with tears welling in his eyes without a care for the scorchingly disapproving eyes that were hidden in every window, and Katsuki, looking back, had to join in. It was true; he felt like they were kids again, with not a care in the world.


	9. Baby's Breath Gypsophilia

**A/N:** I'm so very sorry *leaves this here and runs away*

Katsuki wasn't sure what he had expected when he finally made up his mind that Izuku would be the only one for him. In the first place, neither of them were exactly experienced - Katsuki himself had no time for romance, always finding himself too busy training himself to be better, stronger, and he was sure he'd never seen Deku so much as blink at another alpha before (besides that four eyed one that hung around the round faced omega Izuku seemed to favor). The thought of being Deku's first and only pleased his alpha, and Katsuki kept his smile to himself as they fumbled with their hands and butted heads, forcing their way back inside the cottage. The occasional curses and mumbled chidings joining the singing of the cicadas outside.

Katsuki knew for a fact that Izuku couldn't kiss. The omega's tongue was unsure and his hands wandered aimlessly, searching for a place to go, but despite Katsuki's own inexperience he was more than happy to show the omega how it was done. Pushed against the bedroom door - their bedroom door - he claimed Izuku's lips again and again, only stopping when the omega was red in the face and in desperate need of air. A hungry smile hung from Katsuki's face.

"Hah, Kacchan, it's dark, too dark in here".

Katsuki clicked his tongue, the sound harsh against the dead silence of the room. So what if it was dark outside. It was a full moon, and moonbeams came in through the curtains, pale and mystifying. He could see just fine. Katsuki continued to rain open mouthed kisses on the man pressed against him - he felt like a beast, reluctant to let go of his prey.

"Please, Kacchan, light a candle."

Katsuki ignored him, focusing on the omega's neck this time and giving particular attention to the small gland releasing that divine aroma. Vanilla and midnight, Katsuki felt a hunger start to grow deep below his stomach. He growled into his partner's shoulder and stepped back slightly to tear his tunic off, his skin was growing too hot. Izuku had no idea what he was doing to him.

He let his instincts take over, kissing at his partners neck like he longed to do for so long. It was a promise to mark, to claim; Izuku was going to be his, there could be no other. The whole village - no, the world - would know it soon enough.

His body froze when Izuku placed a hand over his mouth, stopping his advances. Katsuki froze over and the hair on the back of his neck prickled up. His stomach flipped and turned dangerously. Had he done something wrong? Was Izuku rejecting him?

_Was omega rejecting us?_

"Kacchan, please…" Izuku took quick breaths, his skin a beautiful peach against Katsuki's own pale hands. "Can you light a candle? I'm scared I'm going to lose control and freak out. I'd like to be able to see more than four inches in front of me."

Izuku seemed to sense Katsuki's fear and uneasiness at being rejected and hung his neck against the alpha's, scent glands grazing against each other. Chamomile filled the air. "Please?"

Katsuki reluctantly withdrew from the omega, his eyes left lingering before stepping away to find some matches. His back was turned to Izuku, but his trained ears picked up the omega's quickening heartbeat, the needy breaths coming out in short puffs. In the dark, he could make out the rise and fall of Izuku's chest, and he yearned to touch, to feel his body against him again.

Warmth filled the cottage as an orange flame burst into life, then another, and another, all dancing and casting wicked shadows across Izuku's face. Somewhere deep beneath Katsuki's skin and at the back of his mind an itch started to grow, the incessant hunger in his groin gnawing at him, urging him forward.

When their eyes met again, Izuku's entire aura had changed. Were Katsuki a lesser alpha, he'd be terrified of the lust he found in those emerald eyes. Izuku grazed him with his eyes, observing him as a starved animal, wild and predatory, as if they had crossed paths on the hunting grounds. He probably thought Katsuki would be an easy meal. Oh how wrong he was.

But they weren't animals, and they weren't on the hunting grounds. They were here, behind locked doors in their cozy little cottage and bathed in candlelight. Here, he towered over Izuku, and watched with bated breath as the omega sized him up, adoration on full display.

The omegas eyes shone back at him in the flickering shadows of their cottage. The scent rapidly filling the closed room was familiar to Katsuki, but a thick veil of honeysuckle sweetness hung over it. He normally detested omegas with overly sugary scents, but this was different. This was his omega, and his omega needed him.

Katsuki's addled mind could not comprehend the speed that Izuku had him sprawled across the animal hides on their bed. With wide eyes he looked up and saw his omega perched over him, strong thighs clamped on either side of his legs. Even if the view was fucking amazing, Katsuki, not being one to be outdone, quickly switched their positions. He needed his omega to know he could be in control. Now, being on top of Izuku, Katsuki was free to lavish Izuku with his attention.

"Kacchan, please"

"Please what?" His arms grazed lazily at Izuku's sides, but his eyes were greedy. The itch covering his whole body was beginning to get uncomfortable as fuck, but still he continued, lowering a hand to begin palming at Izuku through his cotton trousers. "_Use your words, omega_."

Mentally, Katsuki took a step back. That huskiness in his own voice sounded too foreign, so unlike himself. What was this omega doing to him?

"Y-you...you, I need you!" Izuku cried out at a particularly delicious knead of his crotch, his face twisted in pleasure.

"I'd bet you'd fucking love that, huh?"

Izuku pulled everytime Katsuki pushed, returned every kiss with fervor, and the alpha couldn't help but think about how perfect his omega was underneath him, even in this heat of his. "Hah...hah, what Kacchan?"

"My mark on your neck, so that every shitty extra in this worthless village will know exactly who you belong to."

Izuku purred underneath him, arching his back to grind against the alpha's heated skin. Katsuki watched as he bared his neck to the volatile alpha. Izuku keened and looked up at him, his pupils blown out wide, surrounded only by the thinnest emerald rim. Katsuki's canines elongated, anticipating the bite that would claim the omega as his.

His teeth grazed Izuku's scent gland, eliciting the most beautiful noises Katsuki had ever heard. They just seemed to spill out of the others mouth, encouraging, urging him forward. He leaned forward, ready to claim. And he opened his mouth, and fell. And he kept falling forward, and forward, deeper and deeper into Izuku's scent gland, and his world went dark. The overwhelming itch at the back of his mind flowed through his body, and the darkness consumed him as he surrounded himself in the comfort of Izuku's scent.

* * *

The next time Katsuki opened his eyes, he hadn't even realized he'd closed them in the first place. The first thing he noticed was the sun in his eyes, the offending beam of light creeping in through a crack in the curtains. The second thing he noticed was that he seemed to be in the middle of some shitty sort of nest - the blankets of his bed had been rearranged to form a ring. The third and final thing he noticed was the absolutely disgusting stickiness he felt between his thighs.

Cursing, Katsuki pushed himself off the bed. He glanced down at himself and sighed. His entire bottom half was smeared with dried cum and a fluid he had a strange suspicion was entirely Izuku. Grumbling, he peeled himself off the bedspread and stumbled into the washroom on sleeping feet and began cleaning himself with a wet cloth. The feeling of being clean again was bliss.

Wait. Izuku? He scanned the room once, then again. Where was that little nerd? What the fuck? His head pounded - Katsuki remembered wanting to give Izuku the best night of his life and then, and then nothing. Why couldn't he remember shit!?

A banging from the kitchen cut through the silence of the cottage accompanied by a shrill shriek. There was no one else it could be. Immediately, Katsuki was on his feet and out the bedroom door, worry etched into his face.

"Fuck, shit, fuck," Izuku cursed openly, trying and failing to find a cloth or a discarded rag as he flailed through his new kitchen's seemingly endless cupboards. "There has to be something here."

"Deku!" Katsuki raced into the kitchen, his feet sliding out from under him on the smooth wood floor. With a curse and a growl, he rose and found the omega in the center of a mess of pots and pans, a hand clutched close to his body. Beads of blood dropped onto the wood below them. "The fuck?"

"Uuuh, goodmorning?" Izuku shrugged.

Katsuki moved as he spoke, his natural instinct to protect taking the forefront of his mind. "What, in actual hell, happened here?" He dove his hands into a cupboard Izuku had been too short to reach and pulled out a small wooden box.

"I-I wanted to make breakfast…" Katsuki immediately began dressing Izuku's knife wound. It was shallow and short, only the smallest amount of blood leaked out from the wound. Nevertheless, seeing Izuku hurt was not something he could just ignore. On a particularly rough tug of the bandage, Izuku winced slightly. Almost immediately, Katsuki began to release a calming scent.

Izuku's eyes began to droop, his body relaxing with Katsuki's ministrations. "Can you even fucking cook, Deku?" Katsuki's voice was teasing but his eyes held no malice.

Izuku huffed, crossing his bandaged arm across his chest. "I'll have you know my mother helped me learn how to cook. I think you'll be surprised at how well I can work in the kitchen."

Katsuki grinned. "Sounds like a challenge." He liked challenges.

Turns out Izuku couldn't cook for shit. Not that he wasn't surprised or anything - he did admire how the omega tried to keep up with him, however. But after failing to crack an egg four times and spilling flour all over the counter every time he reached across where Katsuki was working, the blond alpha had had enough. Now, the omega was consigned to sit and watch from the wooden dinner table. Slowly, they slipped into a comfortable silence, the only noises being those from Katsuki's cooking and Izuku's small breaths.

"I could still help out you know." Izuku seemed a little miffed at the fact that Katsuki had kicked him out of the kitchen.

"Hah?" Katsuki turned from his spot above the stove. "You thought the salt was spicy sugar." He placed a hand on his hip. "And while that's kind of cute, I'm not a fan of salty oatmeal."

Izuku pouted (_he pouted - god Katsuki had his work cut out for him_). "It's not my fault. Spices like that are hard to come by, I've hardly ever seen them, Kacchan."

Katsuki let a smile sit comfortably on his face as he laid out their breakfast on a wooden tray. While he wasn't a fan of eating in bed, he could sense that his mate was still under some influence of his heat. Plus, he'd be able to stay close to him and make sure he actually ate.

Katsuki propped everything up on the daybed in their living room, taking note of the floral swags that hung from seemingly every inch of his walls. He didn't even know when Izuku had found the time to turn their entire house into a garden.

"Kacchan, did you want to eat there?" Izuku drifted closer to the alpha, and Katsuki took a moment to really look at him. Izuku's skin was glowing, his freckles were plastered across his cheeks, and his hips looked healthy.

Katsuki just grunted and reached around Izuku, wrapping his arms across his bottom and lifting him into the air with a shrill noise of protest. He laid him down and followed right behind him, spooning him from the back as they settled in for their meal.

"Kacchan, meat is a luxury! We should be saving it for special occasions!" The omega protested when they started eating.

"You're a pretty fucking special occasion, Deku."

Mentally, Katsuki patted himself on the shoulder for the pretty blush that spread across his omega's cheeks.

"Kacchan," Izuku brought up a hand to rub at his neck, which to Katsuki's lament was left unmarked. All for the best really - he still couldn't remember a thing from last night and he'd prefer to be aware of when he marked his mate thank you very much. "You were an animal last night," Izuku sighed, a smile stretched across his face.

Katsuki made a conscious effort to make sure the smile on Izuku's face was immediately saved and archived in his memories. On the other hand, he really didn't want to disappoint Izuku by telling him he could hardly remember a single thing. The only thing that was coming back to him was Izuku's scent and his mingling together and the feeling of indescribable pleasure, but that was about it. But his omega felt so warm against him, he decided it wasn't that important. He leaned forward and stole a couple of kisses from Izuku's lips, leaving the omega breathless.

Again, he only stopped when Izuku pushed a hand against his chest, the nails digging into his flesh. Shitty nerd, he'd have to groom his omega soon.

"We need to talk about what happened, Kacchan."

Immediately, warnings flashed through his mind, but he did his best to remain stone faced like always. "What's there to talk about?" His oatmeal lay on the tray, sad and forgotten.

"Well, for starters, my heat is probably not going to last much longer since I, you know, did the deed. It'll probably be out of my body by tonight, since you-"

"I fucked your brains out."

Izuku turned to look at him, scandalized by the other's obscene mouth.

"What? It's the truth." Katsuki tore a piece of bread between his teeth. Katsuki could tell that the omega wasn't done yet, and the nervousness made the bread taste stale. He pretended not to notice Izuku's eyes glued to his teeth.

"Yeah, l-like I was saying, it was the first time I've ever done that, to fulfill my heat, that is. I already feel my head clearing up…"

Katsuki tried not to sound disappointed. "That's great, right? Then we can finally be let out of this place."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Izuku wasn't as successful in hiding in inner turmoil. "But there's something else I wanted to bring up to you."

This time, Izuku unwrapped himself from Katsuki's arms and sat up on the edge of the mattress. Katsuki followed behind, keeping his distance. He couldn't pick up any scent from Izuku. He was hiding something from Katsuki.

"Last night was really amazing, Katsuki, truly. But, I guess we were so wrapped up in being moved to a cottage together, and avoiding each other, I forgot to take any contraceptive-"

Katsuki cut him off before he could finish. "Contraceptives?"

"Yes Kacchan, contraceptives. They're supposed to stop omegas like me from getting pregnant."

"I know what they do! But why would you need to take that shit for?"

"Even though it hardly ever happens, I can still get pregnant, Kacchan." This time, Izuku stood up and began pacing in front of Katsuki, his hands going up to curl into his hair. "And we've only been partnered together like this for a day! A day, Kacchan! Seven moons ago I wasn't even sure if you remembered I existed!"

The dam keeping Izuku's thoughts contained seemed to have burst, and now the young man was pacing a hole in their floor, mumbling while Katsuki watched him silence.

"What if, what if this was a mistake, Kacchan? What if we rushed into this? Do you - do you even like me? Not just for sex, but really like me? Or was this just lust for you? I mean look at you, Kacchan! You're the perfect alpha, and I'm just a fucking mess! Everybody in this village talks, they'll talk about how this never should have happened, how I'm not good enough for you. Oh god, and your reputation. Just being seen around me is enough for people to stop liking you, Kacchan. I'm a freak!"

There were tears in Izuku's eyes now, falling freely as his world seemed to come undone. "What if I end up pregnant, Kacchan. Me, carrying your pups? Do you really think you want to have children with me? What if the other villagers treat our children differently? What if, eventually, you find someone else out there who's better for you than me."

Neither of them spoke. The cottage was quiet save for the soft flapping of the curtains from an open window. Izuku couldn't meet his eyes. Katsuki's mouth was full of cotton.

"I'm sorry, I should go." Izuku said. His head hung low and his scent soured. A hand around his wrist stopped him.

"Deku?"

"What, Kacchan?" Izuku's head stayed bowed.

The hand holding his wrist tight suddenly let go, a pair of arms came around him and wrapped around his chest, pulling him back into the alpha behind him. A soft sound like a deep purr cascaded across his back. Tears still shed from his eyes. A hand, rough and calloused and dangerous from years of training, reached up and tried to wipe them away. The gesture was so kind, so out of place coming from the virulent alpha, it only made him cry more.

"The fight we had before, this is different...how long have you kept this to yourself?"

Izuku's breath hitched, the hand around his chest tightening slightly at the sound. The soft caresses on his cheek drew out more of his scent, but Katsuki resisted slotting his nose in the space between the omegas shoulder and neck - he really didn't want to agitate the fragile omega any more. "Four moons ago, when I was wearing that fake scent, and you thought someone else had claimed me…"

Katsuki pondered that for a bit, trying to remember what Izuku was talking about, and recalling how it felt so strange, so wrong, for someone else's scent to be on Izuku. Even if in hindsight it had been artificial, it was still enough to incite a response from the alpha.

The omega continued, "At the time, I was positive this was all your idea of a prank. That you were just stringing me along. Despite how cruel you acted, I thought it would have ended at that, and we would probably go another ten years without talking to me."

Katsuki gave one final squeeze, letting his arms fall at his sides. Izuku turned to face him. "Make no mistake, shitty Deku," the alpha took a cloth from the tray of their forgotten meal and began wiping down the omegas face in soft gentle strokes, leaving not a single tear behind. "I said you're the only omega I can even think of being my mate, and I stand by that. All the other's are obnoxious as fuck."

Katsuki let his arms fall again, not exactly sure what he should be doing with them. "And another fucking thing, I don't give a shit about what some extra thinks about me being with you! If any of these fucking villagers give you any shit, you tell me, got it?"

"Kacchan…are you sure?"

"Hah?! Of course I'm fucking sure! When have you ever known me to lie?"

Izuku smiled, his body relaxing again. "Back when we were kids, you told me fireflies were made of real fire." Katsuki smirked back at him and let out a sigh, his inner alpha praising him for calming his omega down. Izuku placed his hands on the alpha's shoulders.

"And you used to tell me that when people died, they became trees in the forest outside of town." That smile was still on the omega's face, and Katsuki was slightly surprised at how quickly he could lift Izuku's mood with a couple of words.

"Alright, that's enough." The omega's palms stayed on his shoulders as Izuku pressed up against him, seeking warmth from his mate.

"Kacchan?"

"What, Deku?" Katsuki's arms instinctively enveloped the omega's waist.

"Can I kiss you?"

"Hah! Do you even have to ask?"

Izuku made the first move, slotting his lips against Katsuki's. For a while, everything was perfect.

* * *

Everything was perfect until it fucking wasn't. Right across from them, the front door to their cottage burst open, and a draconic looking woman burst into their home, the crimson cape clasped at her neck billowing in her wake. "AM I A FUCKING GRANDMA YET!?" She was fucking terrifying. So terrifying in fact, Izuku jumped straight up in the air, falling straight into Katsuki's waiting arms, as if the other man had been expecting this.

"You really know how to make an entrance, don't you, you old hag?" Ignoring him, the older alpha approached the shrinking omega, cooing and raking her eyes all over him, searching for any marks. "I assume you didn't pussy out, right Katsuki? You two slept together. He might not have a scent of his own, but I can certainly smell my own good for nothing son's on him."

Reality came crashing back down on izuku. While he spent his entire life believing he didn't have a scent, ever since katsuki had doused him in what the other called good old fashioned truth, he had been manually trying to control his scent, a feat that was much harder considering he had never thought to try before. When the alpha had burst into their home uninvited, Izuku was certain he released what he thought were alarm pheromones, intended to ward off trespassers from an omega's nest.

Not that Izuku really believed that Mitsuki would have taken the hint. "Look at you, Izuku! You've grown so much, I remember when you barely came up to my hips." She cooed at him and Izuku tried not to think too much about how his mate's mother knew they had sex, expected it, even.

"Is there a reason you came here, old lady?" Katsuki tried half-heartedly to keep his mate out of her reach, but Mitsuki's grasping hands eventually found their way to pet Izuku's hair. "Besides scaring the shit out of my mate." Izuku felt uncomfortable at the scrutinizing gaze that the alpha of their village, his mate's mother kept constantly on him. Izuku wasn't exactly sure if he was pregnant, it was still to early to tell, and baring his soul and worries to Katsuki had really put him under a lot of stress, but despite all that, this female alpha seemed determined, hellbent even, to know if Izuku was going to be carrying her sons pups.

"What, can't a mother visit her son and his mate once in a while?"

"You stuck us in here" Katsuki's stare was unbelieving.

Mitsuki's posture changed, her shoulders scaring off, backing away from Izuku, who was mercifully let out of Katsuki's arms and back onto the floor. When she was calm and collected, Mitsuki was an imposing figure. She stood nearly the same height as her son, and her narrow red eyes pierced through him. When she spoke her voice was steady.

"We had visitors this morning. From the empire." Katsuki grit his teeth so hard Izuku swore he could see sparks. Katsuki tried very hard to not let his anger show in front of Izuku, but seriously, what the hell was the Todoroki empire doing here, in their village, when they barely acknowledged the Bakugou family that reigned over the land for generations compared to their fairly new king.

Sure it was a complete backwater piece of shit in Katsuki's opinion, but they held their own against bandits and inter-village conflict. The empire never seemed to have a sword to spare them when Bakugou's grandparents reigned as chiefs, so Mitsuki had never taken it upon herself to ask the empire for anything in return. This could only be bad news for the future.

"I've received news from neighboring villages that are in good standing with us. King Enji is conquering the small villages that lay in the lands between major cities. Apparently he's already conquered Rigo…" Rigo was a village that was only a two day trip east of their own. Their town, once famous for their master ironworkers, now lay in the clutches of the empire - no doubt making swords for the bloody king.

"We can't afford to be too cautious around those imperial dogs." She took a breath, steadying herself. "You've mated, Katsuki, and while you didn't exactly finish the job like I'd hope you would," the chief made a gesture to Izuku's unbitten neck gland, "I think it's about time you have some experience in the affairs of the village. You're coming with me"

"I can't, Izuku is still under the effects of his heat, if I leave him now…" the alpha trailed off. An omega usually only had three main scent glands, one on each wrist, and one large one on their neck. These were responsible for emitting their scent pheromones. Under heat, however, several more smaller scent glands emerged, especially around the groin area. Their purpose was twofold: release heat specific pheromones that only served to alert alphas that they were ready to mate, and signify when the heat was over with their disappearance. These heat glands were typically scentless, nature's way of ensuring omegan biology worked without issue. On Izuku, whose scent glands were undetectable by anyone other than Katsuki, these heat glands and their specific pheromones were the only indication that he was even there to an alpha like Mitsuki.

"From here I can tell that it's almost over. Either way, he seems to be far enough along that he can leave the house. Come with us Izuku. If you're going to be taking a spot at Katsuki's side, it's best to know what is going to be expected of you, scentless or not."

Katsuki was about to argue his mother further on the danger of taking his omega out of the house too early, but she seemed to be unperturbed, and took off in the direction of the main hall where the chief handled most of their duties.

When Inasa and his company had arrived at their destination, the stocky alpha was taken aback. He had never seen such an independant and proud people. Despite originally being from Rigo himself, he had never bothered to take the two day trip to visit this village of Musutafu. Perhaps if his own people had had a fraction of the backbone that these people seemed to possess, he'd still be able to complete his apprenticeship at his father's smithy. _His father..._

It was best not to dwell on the past, Besides, his prince needed him. Upon arrival, his party of two other men had been ushered with him into a large stone building in the center of town. It was a simple construction, with a pair of stairs alongside both walls leading up to a curtained off balcony - an area he assumed that was probably reserved for more private matters. The small group of people inside looked as if they were expecting him, and he knew the reason why when he laid eyes on her - the medicine woman.

The medicine woman appeared old, much older than you would expect if you knew her true age in numbers. Rumours were spread far and wide that she dabbled in black magic, and had sold her soul to the devil, but Inasa was not here to judge. This woman, and soon her daughter, a short bubbly girl with rounded brown hair and pink cheeks, were the only ones who could be trusted to create the concoctions his prince had come to depend on.

To her right stood a kind faced man with a shock of brown hair on his head. He was the one to address Inasa from his place beside the simple throne. His voice was even and calm, typical of a beta. "How good of you to come, Sir Inasa Yoarashi, you can call me Masaru." He gave the knights a respectful bow. "We received the carrier bird not two moons ago, however since the sowing season is upon us, we can hardly spare a set of working hands. As such, please forgive us for the curt welcome."

"Not a worry. Given the nature of our mission, haste is greatly appreciated. As to why we are here, we'd like to request -" A hand in the air stopped him abruptly. "I do apologize for interrupting you, Sir Knight, but such discussions are best suited for when the chief arrives." Inasa was slightly miffed, having been under the impression that this beta before him was the chief, but that would have been too easy, he supposed. Behind him, the soldiers accompanying him snickered at his slip up. He'd never been the one to come collect the false scent, after all. That job was reserved for the handmaid that frequented Shoto's chambers, but Mistress Chiyume was being requested more and more and King Enji's side, and although an extended trip to her hometown wasn't out of the ordinary, it was becoming increasingly harder and harder for her to slip away to procure the false scent for the prince. The duty now fell upon Inasa's shoulders, and it was a burden he was proud to uphold.

The brown haired man continued talking, "In fact, i can hear her coming now."

"Her?"

The door behind him burst open, something that appeared to be a common occurrence given the deep gouge in the wall where knob met wood. The woman (chief, he reminded himself) strode confidently up to the throne, not sparing him and his two soldiers a second glance. She took her seat at the throne, but not before giving a rather affectionate kiss to the beta who had kept them company. Trailing behind her was a younger man who could've been her twin. He was similar in every way from his eyes to his scowl, and Inasa felt slight discomfort at the amount of alpha pheromones exuding from the man, but a look behind him gave him all the reasons why.

A wispy thing, dark haired and wide eyed, he clung to the blond alpha as if his life depended on it. Inasa watched as the smaller of the two regained his composure and joined the woman chief and the annoyed looking alpha at the throne. The beta male leaned in to speak in the chief's ear, probably filling her in on the situation. Slowly, almost catlike, the chief set her eyes on the imperial soldiers.

Inasa liked to believe he was a strong man. After all, he was selected to guard the prince of the empire due to his impressive strength, but those eyes. Were his prince not relying on him, he would have prefered to turn tail and return home empty handed.

The chief spoke first. "So, Inasa was it?" The knight nodded respectfully. "Tell me Sir Knight, what is it exactly that you have come here for." She paused, her legs crossed and a foot bouncing in thought. "And explain to me, if you can, why Madame Uraraka seemingly has everything ready for you to receive."

"Oh don't be so distrusting, Mitsuki," came the gentle admonition from the medicine woman. "This whole transaction is an old one, the only thing that has changed is the person picking up the packages."

The chief woman (Mitsuki, Inasa noted) kept her stone faced demeanor. "And why have I never been made aware of this relationship between you and the empire?" Her voice was a thinly veiled accusation.

The medicine woman smiled to herself. "Oh my dear, you remember Chiyume, don't you? The poor thing found work as a maid in some castle and peddles my wares for me when she finds the time. That's all."

Chief Mitsuki seemed to be satisfied with her answer, a flicker of recognition at the name Chiyume crossed her eyes. She faced forward again, giving her attention to Inasa once more. The knight tried his hardest not to cower. "Uh, my prince has recently been struck by an odd illness." The alphas' voice boomed, either out of cowardice, or in an attempt to appear bigger than he was, Katsuki didn't know. "Miss Chiyume spread the news of a medicine woman in this village that was renowned for her abilities, and asked for the medicine on our behalf several moons ago. It is in my orders to act quickly and secure the medicine for my prince."

That was fucking odd. Katsuki didn't expect such a big, imposing alpha to be capable of blushing so much. He looked like a fucking poppy.

"Chief Mitsuki, I ask that you allow my daughter, Uraraka, to take the journey to the capital with the knight."

"And why is that, witch?"

"The tinctures are fragile. Were Chiyume here to pick up the package herself, I'd have no qualms. However, no offense Sir Knight, I fear the medicine won't make it to the capital in one piece."

"We also have a request to make, chief Mitsuki." All eyes were on the knight. No one ever made demands from Mitsuki. "There have been increased sightings and reports of bandits in the area, and the quickest path between our settlements are often plagued by crime. We ask that you spare some warriors, please."

At the mention of bandits Katsuki felt Izuku tense up at his side, and the request for warriors to help them didn't sit right with Katsuki. "Hah?" Katsuki spat. Izuku placed a hand on his shoulder, trying his best to restrain but doing little to calm the irritated man.

"Order, please," Mitsuki said, outstretching a hand with her palm out, a symbol of amity. "Fine. Well grant your request, imperial soldier."

"You cant be fucking serious."

"My son and his group of friends are all skilled warriors. They will be one of the ones accompanying you on the journey."

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!"

The young alpha planted himself in front of the chief, determined to get her to look him in the eye. "Seriously?" Katsuki fumed. "Why such a big entourage for some fucking medicine."

Inasa made to move, his very sizable body shifting the very air around them. "I will have you know I value the life of my prince over my own, alpha, and I would gladly travel to the ends of the world for him."

"If its so fucking important, why couldn't that precious prince of yours send more guards. Seems to me like this is a ruse to catch us without our warriors so that the empire of yours can invade us like they invaded Rigo." Katsuki thought for a bit before settling on a dangerous smile. "Or maybe he wants you to fail. No other reason why he only sent three people on _such an important mission_." Sarcasm dripped from his lips.

"How dare you -" The armored alpha made a move to draw his sword only to find it missing from its scabbard, scrambling around, he searched for it. Inasa panicked - had he dropped it outside? When had it left his side?

"Hahaha I didn't know you had it in you, Deku!" The frail looking omega now stood a ways off from the main group, and sure enough he had Inasa's sword in a white knuckle grasp. He cast a condemning stare at Inasa, offended that the alpha would dare raise even a finger against his blond partner. Inasa was taken aback. The boy had managed to sneak up on him without even alerting his senses. He was a trained knight, he should certainly be able to scent the area around him, especially in an enclosed room.

When he approached the boy, it slowly hit him. The boy before him bared his teeth, but Inasa could detect no scent other than the one he was familiar with as the one belonging to the chief's son. How strange.

"Wow, hello there, little warrior. Are you the spy of this village, scentless one?"

"He's no fucking warrior or spy, he's my mate and the reason why I'm not going anywhere, you old hag. Or did you already forget about being a grandmother?"

"Woooo! Get it Bakubro!" Katsuki groaned as he went to Izuku's side, not letting his guard down. These idiots really had the worst timing. Red painted his neck and cheeks as the whole fucking circus that was his friend group entered the main hall, waltzing in like they owned the place before bowing before the chiefs throne. Of course, the shitty haired bastard was the one who overheard most of Katsuki's open confession, but Dunceface, Beanpole, and Pinkhair were no doubt right behind him and overheard as well.

The redhead threw him a grin and the rest of the ragtag group offered him thumbs up. He knew, he just knew the redhead was going to try and talk to him about it later. Katsuki elected to ignore them for now and give his attention to the swordless knight in front of him, seemingly still a threat to his mate.

"Izuku is practically back to normal, Katsuki. He should be fine to travel. In any case, leaving him behind is a bad idea, having just bonded with him. And make no mistake, you will be going with these imperial soldiers, Katsuki. Think of this as your trial. Take your pack with you to the empire's capital and bring them back to me safely. Prove to me that you can lead."

Katsuki sneered. _The old hag had planned this all along_.

"Sir Knight, does this please you?" The chief asked, her tone low. Katsuki watched as the air headed fucker searched for what to say, no doubt conflicted that the alpha he almost got into a fight with was now going to be joining them on the journey. _Serves him fucking right._

"I believe so, Chief of Musutafu."

"Perfect," Mitsuki's smile was deadly. "The sun is at its highest peak right now, you may depart in an hour's time, ensure _all_ preparations are in order. I grant you stock for a week's worth of food and ensure your weapons are ready for combat." This time she was addressing Katsuki's group. The four of them nodded.

Izuku offered Inasa back his sword, which the tall man took graciously with a large smile. Inasa and his twosome gave their thanks once again to the chief before bowing out in a gust of wind from the ridiculous capes of their uniforms to check on the preparations. Ochaco threw her own smile at Izuku and as she passed by him on her way out with her mother. She whispered something in the omega's ear that Katsuki couldn't catch. Whatever, he aimed a growl at her too for good measure.

They were just about to make their own exit in order to prepare for this bullshit journey before being stopped once more by the chief. "Oh and another thing Katsuki," the older alpha called.

_Great, what now old hag?_ Katsuki offered a noncommittal noise of acknowledgement. Katsuki's family were the only ones left in the hall. Izuku at his side, mirroring Katsuki's father's spot next to the chief.

"I know you, Katsuki. You are my son, after all. You noticed it. How strange the request is for such a simple quest. There has to be a reason for such care and security for a simple fetch quest, and I'm not buying that knight's excuse. Find out what's really going on. Find out why they are being extra cautious."

Katsuki smiled at her for once. This was something more his style.

"Oh, and If Izuku is going to be accompanying you, I think it's best you pay a visit with Inko-san. She's going to want to see her son, and his new mate."

_Uh-oh_.

* * *

**A/N: **Oh my gosh, it's been so long since I've sat at the computer desk back at home to write for this fic, I guess quarantine will do that to you, huh? *shrugs* (Also, can you tell I'm still scared to write porn? Ahh, maybe someday)

Again, I'm sorry for any misspellings, I typed this instead of sleeping. Your kudos and comments are my favorite things in the world and reading them makes uploading more for this story feel less nerve wracking, so if you kudos'd/liked this work before, just know I love you with my whole heart.


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